


The Battle Alchemist

by Zanzabaar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-25 10:56:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 19
Words: 24,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2619218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zanzabaar/pseuds/Zanzabaar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The next-generation of the Potter-Weasley clan has started at Hogwarts, and the parents are glad to see that everything is normal, at least until a transfer student fresh from a foreign war comes into their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Lily Potter was a very confused nine-year old. It started earlier in the day, when she had gone to see her brothers off to Hogwarts. It was James’ second year, so she was used to him being gone for most of the year. Albus was one of the sources of her problems. He had left for his first year, and Lily was used to having her eleven-year-old brother around. She was going to miss him, even if they were often at opposite spectrums of the personality range. The problem was that the youngest Potter was also happy that she now had her parents all to herself. Even though she at times hated James and Albus (mostly James, the often arrogant Gryffindor), they were her brothers after all. She hated the fact that they were gone almost as much as the fact that she often loved it.   
The second reason Lily was confused happened shortly after dinner the evening after they had come back to 12 Grimmauld Place from Platform 9 ¾. Teddy, who Lily considered to be her eldest brother, had come over to eat, like he did a majority of the time. Lily constantly missed when Teddy lived with them when his grandmother Andromeda had been hospitalized due to her poor health when Teddy was fourteen, but she was happy that he still came around as often as he could.   
It was near the end of the dinner when Teddy nervously ran his fingers through his hair (which was currently a curly sky blue with specks of grey here and there).  
“Dad,” he said, avoiding Harry Potter’s eyes, though sporadically looking in his direction.   
“Hmm?” Harry responded casually, not picking up on his oldest son’s nervousness.   
“Can I, umm, talk to you in private?” Teddy asked.   
Harry shrugged, happy for the excuse to not clean the dishes, and the two men headed towards the study.   
Ever curious, Lily was able to sneak out of the kitchen and started to listen in on the conversation in the study.  
Everything was quiet for a few moments.  
“What does it feel like when you kiss Mum?” Teddy asked. Lily wondered why Teddy wanted to ask that in private. She didn’t think that her father was embarrassed by his relationship with Ginny.   
Harry didn’t answer for a short time, apparently thinking.   
“It feels right,” Harry said in his calming voice. He must have finally picked up how nervous his son was. He was quiet for a few seconds before continuing. “I heard a little rumor about you and Victoire.”  
“Of course James would ignore my glares,” Teddy said with a chuckle, “but yeah, that did happen.”  
“I assume you are having second thought about whether or not you like her,” Harry said.  
“Kinda,” Teddy said wryly. “It was more of a conformation of something that I’ve been thinking about for a while.”  
“Oh?”  
“I’m gay,” Teddy blurted out.   
Lily froze. Did she hear him right? Even though she was only nine, Lily knew what it meant to be gay. The fact that Teddy liked men was something she didn’t see coming.  
Her father, though, apparently did see it coming.   
“Thank you for telling me,” Mr. Potter said. Lily knew that tone in his voice. It was the one that he used when he was fully supportive of something. “You should know that anybody that you bring here, I will fully support you. Any young man will be lucky to have you.”  
Lily heard Teddy give a giant sigh of relief.  
“Of course, you may have to give me a few days to re-write the sex-talk speech,” Harry said. “I have to do a bit of research.”  
Teddy laughed. And continued laughing.   
“What?” Harry asked when he was able to get his eldest child’s attention.  
“The speech and research won’t be required,” Teddy said. “I’ve already done some field research.”  
Lily heard something being knocked over. It was her father’s large, expensive, leather chair.   
The Potter girl heard Teddy start laughing again, and soon afterwards her father joined him. 

Teddy telling Ginny Potter was definitely more memorable than telling Harry. She was washing dishes at the sink when Teddy and Harry waltz in ten minutes after Lily had left the door and boldly pronounced: “I enjoy sucking cock!”  
Ginny suddenly slipped on nothing, throwing the plate she was washing up into the air, hitting the light, which fell down to the floor with the shattered plate, all the while Ginny was trying to regain use of her legs by putting the counter under her arms. When that didn’t work, she just splayed out on the floor, looking at Teddy with a dumbfounded look across her face. That was the first time the former Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies ever lost her balance in front of one of her kids.   
Harry and Teddy were laughing their butts off, holding their sides and gasping for air.   
“Who knows?” Ginny finally asked.  
After regaining his breath Teddy answered her: “Just the three of you and the nephew of the owner of Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop.”

***  
Albus Serverus Potter was nervous the entire train ride about which house he was going to be sorted into. Dominique and James were both entering their second years as Gryffindors, so neither of them were worried. Molly Weasley II was confidant that she was going to be a Gryffindor. Rose… well, Albus knew that she would be either a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor. Albus didn’t know where he was going to go. He was quiet, but not shy. He could be courageous, but often only when he knew he would come out unscathed. He knew he had the brains to be a Ravenclaw, but only if he applied himself more than he was ever going to.   
He wouldn’t be surprised if the Sorting Hat just threw him into Hufflepuff, just to be funny. That’s it. He was going to be a Hufflepuff. He knew it.

***  
Albus hardly remembered the walk from the boats to the Great Hall. He remembered one Scorpius Malfoy being sorted into Slytherin, and an Ernie Dursley being sorted into Hufflepuff.   
And then suddenly it was his name Professor Longbottom was calling. Where that had been some muttering and quiet conversations for the sorting of the others, the room went deathly silent as Albus sat on the stool. This was another Potter kid. It was the one that looked like the famous Boy Who Is Now A Man Who Survived Two ‘Effing Killing Curses. Everybody expected the hat to quickly shout out Gryffindor, but it didn’t.  
Finally, an interesting child, the voice of the Sorting Hat said in Albus’ mind. I remember your father’s sorting. He had a tough choice to make. Your mother was easy, as was your brother. Of course, James Potter inherited the Weasley hair and personality, but you are definitely a Potter.   
Albus kept on thinking about being in anything but Slytherin, that he wasn’t outgoing or sadistic enough to be in a house like Slytherin.  
No, you may not be traditionally outgoing, but I can see the shifting of your mind. The way you try to spin everything to your advantage. The way you like to quietly seek revenge when either of your brothers or sister does something that is so… Gryffindor. You have a quiet confidence that is slowly dying out. You would most definitely be a great Slytherin.   
“You know what?” Albus muttered aloud.  
What? The hat responded, actually pausing to hear what Albus had to say.  
Albus looked directly at his older brother sitting at the Gryffindor table and smirked. “Let’s piss my brother off.”  
Everybody’s jaws dropped when the Sorting Hat actually began laughing aloud, and not just in Albus’ head. Then everybody stopped breathing when the hat loudly exclaimed: “Well then, let it be known that Albus Potter and I have both decided on SLYTHERIN!”   
The Slytherin table burst into applause, and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables clapped unenthusiastically, stunned. The Gryffindor table was still deathly silent except for a loud “WHAT?!” from both Fred and Molly Weasley and James Potter falling off of the bench and cursing everything. Dominique and Victoire were the only ones at the Gryffindor table to clap, both jumping out of their seats. Al remembered to make sure to go easy on the pranks on the sisters for being the only ones in his family to support him immediately.   
Albus gave his brother and cousins a large grin as he walked over to the Slytherin table. He sat in the seat next to Malfoy, since the blonde gave him an inviting smile, as they were two of only four first year Slytherin boys.   
The sorting didn’t have anything else exciting happen until it was Rose’s turn. The hat was quiet for a good ten minutes.   
She ended up in Gryffindor with Molly, Dominique, Louis (who was also a first year), Victoire, Fred and James.

***

The walk to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons was uneventful. He and Scorpius Malfoy walked next to each other quietly, having met their two dorm-mates and finding that they would both give them too much attention, being giant fanboys of their fathers’. Even though the Potter and Malfoy hadn’t said much to each other, the both found comfort in the fact that they both didn’t like the attention they received because of their fathers. So, they silently walked next to each other.

***

It was after everybody had settled into the dorms and Albus and Scorpius were sitting at a table together in the common room writing letters to send to their fathers. 

Dear Dad,

I think I’ve finally gotten back at James for throwing all of my underwear into the wash with Lily’s pink clothes! I got myself sorted into Slytherin! You should have seen his face! He fell off of his bench and totally embarrassed himself in front of the entire school! Of course, nobody was paying him any attention. I am actually pretty proud to be in Slytherin. Everybody seems pretty cool, but the only person I think I’ll actually trust is Scorpius (Malfoy). You know, the son of your secret lover nemesis. He’s great- just seems to be chill with everything. None of that angsty-emo stuff that you say his father can’t let go of. So we of course decided to get the beds next to each other. Our other two dorm-mates, Ethan and Evan, are nice but too fanboy and excitable to really have a great conversation with.   
So has anything interesting happened since I left? Has Lily had her meltdown yet? Has Teddy told you about Victoire? Are you going to let me paint my room silver and green now? Please!!!  
Anyway, I miss all of you already. Please make sure Lily keeps her demented cat out of my room.   
Your favorite son, Albus

Albus quickly re-read the letter several times before her folded up so he could take it to the owlery the next day. He stared at the top of Scorpius’ blond head until the other boy had finished writing his letter.   
“Father is going to have a meltdown when he hears I’ve decided to get to know you,” Scorpius said as he folded up his letter. “I can’t wait to see his reply. I’m expecting a strongly worded howler.”   
The boys grinned. 

***

Harry was sitting at his desk when he heard Albus’ owl, Anzo, pecking on his study window. He quickly read the letter, smiled, and immediately started writing a reply.

My favorite son,

I am glad you are smart enough not to trust your housemates (sarcasm!). I am so proud of you. Slytherin has just gained a fine student. I know that you’ll make your house proud. Yes, I will happily let you paint your room, but we may have a bit more trouble convincing your mother. I’m sure James’s expression was priceless. And for the final time, I am not, nor have I ever been, in a relationship with Draco Malfoy. And I’m sure Scorpius is a nice enough boy if you’ve decided to speak aloud to him.   
No, Lily has not had her annual meltdown yet. I expect it either later today or tomorrow. Yes, Teddy mentioned Victoire. There have been a few interesting moments. Your Mum actually slipped on thin air.   
Yes, I will make sure that the cat doesn’t ruin your room. And I’ll be the one to break it to Ginny about you being in Slytherin. I know you’re dreading it.

Your favorite parent,  
Dad

Harry made sure Anzo had the letter secure before he let the owl go and went to the kitchen. Lily was sitting at the large table, reading the latest copy of Witch Weekly and his lovely wife was chopping up some vegetables.   
“Albus is now a Slytherin,” Harry blurted out.  
Lily’s eyes snapped to Harry and nearly screamed “WHAT?”  
Ginny faired little better than the night before, but was able to not hurt the light and keep herself standing.  
“You might want to sit down, darling,” Harry said, guiding Ginny over to a chair and taking up the knife she had been using, promptly continuing what she had been doing.  
“He’s also made his first friend,” Harry continued.  
“That’s almost as surprising as him being a Slytherin,” Ginny said.   
“What’s even more surprising is that said friend is Scorpius Malfoy.”  
Ginny didn’t react the way that Harry expected.  
“Well,” she said, “I guess he could do a lot worse, if only because one Draco Malfoy will probably freak out.”

***

Scorpius did receive a howler the next morning. It was not pleasant. What made it worse was that the entire Great Hall watched. Albus couldn’t stop sniggering, and that only increased Scorpius’s embarrassment. The Howler said what Scorpius had expected it to say, how his parents were proud of him for being sorted into Slytherin, but how they forbid him to interact with the son of an “arrogant, self-absorbed, worship-hogger.”  
It burst into flame in front of everyone.   
Albus burst out into full laughter as Scorpius stood there blushing.   
“Your father needs to find a way to release his anger,” Albus said. “Are his panties always that tight?”  
Scorpius shoved Albus playfully and grinned.  
“You get use to it,” Scorpius said. “At least both your parents took it well.”  
Albus gave Scorpius a large smile and the blonde grinned back. 

***

It was nearing the end of November and Albus and Scorpius we sitting in their corner of the library. Most people had learned to let the two of them keep to themselves. They were both reserved, and though not unkind, tended to push people away, especially when they couldn’t see anything they could gain from someone’s friendship.   
Albus did make sure to spend time with his family, and was happy that Scorpius decided to tolerate them. The two had also made friends with Ernie Dursley, the son of Albus’ father’s cousin.   
“Hey Scorp,” Albus said in his usual quiet voice.   
“Yes, Al?” Scorpius replied without looking up from his Charms essay.   
“Do you wanna come to my place over the holidays?”  
Scorpius’s silver eyes snapped into Albus’s emerald green ones, and he looked slightly terrified.  
“Oh, come on,” Albus complained. “My family isn’t that bad.”  
“I can barely stand the Weasleys here at Hogwarts,” Scorpius complained. “How do you expect me to get along with everyone in your family?”  
“Come on!” Albus said. “They’re only loud and somewhat obnoxious. I’m sure they’ll warm up to you once they get to know you.”  
“I highly doubt that.”  
Albus gave his friend an intense stare. “You do realize that I am the first person on either side of my family to not be in Gryffindor. That is because I can barely stand my family, and now that I’m a Slytherin, I don’t think I’ll be able to survive their ridicule and joking alone.”   
Scorpius matched his friend’s stare. “And why would I want to put myself up to be terrified?”  
“Because I won’t help you with your Herbology essay if you don’t come.”  
They both continued to stare at each other seriously for a few seconds before a grin appeared on each of their faces. It was impossible for them to stay too serious with each other for very long.  
“Fine,” Scorpius let in. He was barely making an “Acceptable” in Herbology, so he definitely needed the help.   
Albus just grinned.

***

Anzo found Ginny this time around, and after she retrieved the letter from Albus, she made sure she was sitting down. She didn’t want to have another “incident,” as she began to call the times when she couldn’t keep standing.   
She was hoping that this time it was an unneeded precaution. 

Dearest Parents of mine,  
Scorpius is spending the holidays with us, okay? His parents are okay with it, I promise. They’re spending the holiday in France with Scorpius’ mother’s family, and he doesn’t want to go.   
I can definitely wait to come home, but I miss you anyway.

-Albus

Ginny sighed. James had at least asked if he could have a friend over the holidays, so of course Albus had to not care what his parents thought. It wasn’t the fact that she didn’t like Scorpius that set her off thinking. From the few letters Albus has owled home, Scorpius seemed liked a decent kid. A product of his mother’s raising, no doubt. It was Mr. Malfoy that Ginny was worried about. And why was that? It probably had something to do with the fact that he made her and Harry’s life like a small piece of hell when the three of them were in school.   
She vowed that she would spend as little time with Draco Malfoy as possible. 

***

Lily was excited. All three of her older brothers were going to be at home in the evening, and Teddy was even going to be staying for a couple of days. What made her even more excited was that Albus was going to bring a friend, Scorpius, home, and Teddy was bring someone special.   
Lily soaked Scorpius in as they, along with James, his friend Conall and Albus, sat in the back of the Potter’s charmed van. The Potter parents were sitting in the front, Harry happy that he didn’t actually have to drive.   
The young girl almost immediately developed a crush on the eleven-year-old blonde. Of course, she never had the opportunity to talk to the boy, since he was quietly having a conversation with Albus the entire ride home and then when they got home, he and Albus took their trunks up to Albus’s room and didn’t come down.   
She wasn’t very excited any more.  
“Well, Scorpius seems like a decent kid,” Harry said as he sat down at the table.   
“He does,” Ginny agreed, “and his mother is actually a decent person. I think I’ll probably owl her at some point to see if she would like to join Hermione, Angelina, Fleur and I for lady’s night.”  
“As long as her husband stays away, I think that would be a wonderful idea,” Harry agreed.  
“He wasn’t even at the station to send off his son,” Ginny complained. “I hadn’t expected him to improve much since our school days, but I would have thought that he would have at least had the decency to come.”  
Harry just shrugged.  
“Well I think that Scorpius is rude,” Lily said. “And Albus is a jerk for keeping him to himself. They didn’t even say one word to me.”  
“If you expected them too, then you know Albus better than I do,” Harry mused with a small smile.  
Lily sat in her favorite chair by the fire as she settled in a state of nine-year-old-mini-depression and watched James and Conall talk about Quidditch. Lily wasn’t all to interested in it, but she wasn’t kept waiting long for something else to happen.  
About ten minutes after the Potters arrived, Lily saw her father try to sneak off into his office, so Lily decided to eavesdrop like she often did. She heard the familiar whooshing sound of two people Flooing through the fireplace.   
She heard what sounded like muffled introductions, but she couldn’t understand what was being said.  
About three seconds of silence, Lily’s father stuck his head out of the door. “Come meet Teddy’s boyfriend, Lily.”

***

James Potter was getting used to surprises. The first major surprise of the year came when Albus had actually gotten his Hogwarts letter during the summer. The second came when previously mentioned younger brother got sorted into Slytherin. That one was difficult to rub off his shoulder, but he soon got used to the fact that he was related to a snake. Thirdly, he was made a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, instead of being made Keeper like he was planning on. The fourth surprise was, of course, Albus and Scorpius being friends. Really though, he should have known Karma would have thrown that one at him. And after actually have a few short, choppy conversations with the blonde git, he was able to accept the friendship.   
It was when his father called a family meeting in the kitchen when James would receive his last major surprise before New Years. He was the last to enter, and everybody was looking at Teddy, who was holding hands with another young man. Teddy then shyly introduced Akimitsu as his boyfriend.  
That wasn’t the surprise though. The surprise was that that was when James started to suspect himself of being similar to Teddy in a new way.


	2. Teddy the Slytherin

Even though this was the first time Albus had seen Teddy and Akimitsu, the pair had immediately fascinated him. When the two went to sit on the couch to wait for dinner, Albus followed under the pretense of wanting to read a book in the big armchair next to the fire. He would peek up over the top of the book every few seconds to see them cheekily grinning at each other, or Akimitsu running his hand slowly up Teddy’s thigh, and Teddy even started groping his boyfriend’s bits, but stopped when he remember that Albus and Scorpius (who had squeezed in next to Albus) were in the room.   
“So you guys have done it, right?” Scorpius asked, sharing Albus’s fascination. The moment Scorpius asked the question, Harry, Lily, James and Conall were walking in. The two boys heard the question and immediately perked up, quickly leaning up against the backside of the couch. Lily squeaked and literally ran out of the room, and Harry just shook his head, sitting in the other large armchair.   
Teddy smirked at the six other males in the room. “Of course we have.”  
All four of the younger boys looked at them eagerly, their eyes pleading for more details.  
Harry just gave a chuckle and got up to leave.  
“What? Don’t want to hear about your son’s very active sex life, Mister Potter?” Akimitsu playfully asked in his heavy Japanese accent.  
“I think I’ll leave that to the imagination,” Harry replied, before leaving to go to the kitchen, where he was greeted by both his daughter and wife.  
“Teddy’s talking about sex, isn’t he?” Ginny asked.  
Harry nodded. “Don’t worry, I gave Albus the Talk before he started the term, same as I did with James.”  
“When Albus came out of your office and couldn’t stop blushing for the rest of the day?” Lily asked. “He couldn’t look at you or James for a week!”  
Lily’s parents both grinned, remembering what it had been like for Albus. After the week though, he began to have quiet conversations with James about stuff like sex. While he was glad that his sons had a close enough relationship to talk about that type of stuff, he constantly reminded himself to watch them so they wouldn’t take it to far.   
Ginny just shook her head and chuckled. “I don’t understand the male sex drive.”

zZz

The holidays past quickly, with Albus throwing his green jumper made by his grandmother into the bottom of his trunk, and the new term started on a snowy January day. In one of their rare semi-brotherly moments at school, James and Albus were sitting on the edge of the Great Lake, both sharing a free period before lunch. Albus had his green and silver scarf wrapped around the lower part of his face and had his knees to his chest, trying to keep himself warm. James was leaning back, his gold and red scarf almost clashing with his orange hair, and not letting the cold bother him.  
“So how’s my favorite snake?” James asked.  
“Cold,” was what he got as a response at first. “What did you want to talk about?”  
“I noticed my first chest hair this morning,” James said, and Albus could almost see the excitement pouring out of his brother.  
Albus only smiled and let out a small “congrats.”  
“Yeah, I think it’s time for me to get a girlfriend.” There was no reason for him to tell Albus that he was questioning himself, because he was still doing just that: questioning.  
The younger boy gave the older one a blank stare. “James, you’re twelve. Don’t you think you’re a bit young?”  
“I’m going to thirteen in March, so I might as well start looking around.”  
“Oh sure, I bet girls love being treated as though you’re just window shopping.”  
James smirked, but decided to change the subject. “I don’t know why I was worried about you not surviving in Slytherin. You haven’t been murdered yet, at least.”  
“They’re all smart enough to not get one the bad side of my Gryffindor family. My murder would most definitely get on all of your bad sides.”  
James grinned at this, knowing that Albus rarely gave compliments, even if they were only implied. “Yeah, you’re pretty lucky to have such a wonderful family, especially a brother such as myself.”  
“I don’t know how your neck can support that big head of yours.”  
James could barely notice a smile underneath his brother’s scarf when the Slytherin said this.   
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it,” James said with a mock dramatic tone, “you don’t love me.”  
“Yes, that’s it,” Albus muttered.  
James chuckled and a silence fell between the two. They watched as the snow gently fell onto the lake and listened to the yells and laughter of a giant snowball fight that was going on behind them. The giant squid would occasionally flail of its giant tentacles above the water, much to the Potter brothers’ amusement.   
“You’re coming to see me play in the match against Ravenclaw at the end of the month, right?” James asked after a few minutes of silence, not knowing when else he would get the chance to ask his brother.  
“Yup,” Albus agreed. “I still like Quidditch, even though I’m not as crazy about it as you or Conall.”  
James smiled. He knew Albus enjoyed the sport, and the younger boy was an above average flyer.   
“And then we’re going to completely thrash you Snakes.”  
“You know I love it when you’re disappointed.”  
James smiled and cast a quick Tempus charm. “Lunch is starting in a few minutes. We don’t want you to miss you date with your dear boyfriend Scorpius.”  
“Yes, I simply cannot wait to see the love of my life,” Albus played along as the two got up.  
“What’s this I hear about Albus being in love?” a voice asked when they started walking towards the castle. The brothers turned to see their cousin Louis walking to them.  
“Yes, Scorpius and I are dating as of fifteen seconds ago,” Albus said. “I was about to go tell him the good news.”  
“Aw, Albus,” Louis fake-whined. “Why do you always take the boys I like?”  
“He’s a Slytherin,” James butted in. “He can’t help it, it’s in his nature.”  
Albus just stayed silent as Louis laughed and put his arm on the snake’s shoulders. James came up on Albus’s side and put his arm on top of Louis’s. If any other two family members did this, they would probably receive a glare and an attempt from Albus to get away, but his brother and Louis seemed to be the only two people in his family he could stand. The three walked to the Great Hall like this, and Albus (and by extension Scorpius), was invited to sit at the Gryffindor table with the rest of the Weasley clan. The blonde was still uncomfortable with Albus’s extended family, but he was still able to get into a heated debate with James about who would win the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match in a few months.   
Gryffindor won the match by twenty points, and thus the Quidditch cup. Slytherin still won the House cup. 

zZz

It was during the train ride home at the end of his third year that now fourteen-year-old Albus first questioned why he thought becoming friends with Scorpius Malfoy was a good idea. It wasn’t because the two had a row or anything like that. It was because, during that train ride, a figurative light bulb went off over his head.  
It had started the last September (only a few days after Lily had predictably been sorted into Gryffindor): the first time Albus had a wet dream. This was quickly followed up by Albus waiting for James outside the Gryffindor common room before breakfast that day. When his thirteen-month older brother came out from behind the Fat Lady, Albus quickly dragged him to a deserted corridor and asked him about it. It took a few moments for James to calm Albus down, but when he did, the older brother quickly explained how wet dreams were perfectly normal. He then went on to suggest wanking religiously. The ginger even offered to demonstrate, to which Albus immediately declined (they were close, but not that close). James just shrugged it off and the two had breakfast together, away from their friends and family for once.  
The black haired boy started to do so at least twice a week, and quickly noticed that the other three boys in the dorm also did so several times a week. None of them thought of using a silencing spell, since they agreed that they were all boys there. It wasn’t until he caught his dorm mate Ethan doing it in the shared bathroom did he notice that he actually caught himself staring at the other boy’s hard length, and that he was completely turned on by it.   
Over the next few weeks, Albus caught himself staring at other boys, and every time he jacked off, he noticed that he was thinking of other boys. He tried to look at girls, to be attracted to them, and to imagine dating one of them. He couldn’t though. Every time, his thoughts almost instantly went to a faceless person with short blonde hair and a male body.  
He came to terms with the fact that he was gay by Christmas. The black-haired boy didn’t tell anyone though. He was hoping that it was just a phase, just some sort of phase that his perverted pubescent mind was putting him through. He was sure that he would grow out of it in a few months.  
But he didn’t. Instead, his eyes continued to follow other boys. Ethan and Evan where interesting to follow. But Albus heard the names the moaned when they masturbated, and they were definitely straight. James’s friend Conall had, like James, started to become a man and had one of the best bums in the school.   
There was one boy that occupied his thoughts more than the others: Scorpius. It might be that it was because Albus had just figured out that he liked boys and that he spent most of his time with Scorpius. Scorpius made him laugh; he understood when Albus didn’t want to talk about what was bothering him, being patient enough to wait until the black haired boy was ready; and lit up Albus’s life whenever he walked into a room.   
He didn’t know what the feeling was; he had never felt it before. Sure, Albus lusted after Scorpius sometimes (which he found very weird), but he lusted after several other boys (Conall and his fine bum).   
It was on that train ride home that Albus realized that lust wasn’t what he felt for Scorpius, but he had a crush on his best friend. And that scared him.  
By then he knew that it wasn’t a phase, that he was one hundred percent bent. Normally, he would talk to Scorpius about this. They told each other everything else, why wouldn’t Albus tell him this? He had come to terms with the fact. Simply put: he was scared. Scorpius was perfectly accepting of Teddy when he came out, but he and Teddy were only distant cousins that didn’t interact often. Albus and Scorpius were best friends. The Potter didn’t want to do anything to risk that. James was a better choice, but the ginger only talked about girls, girls and more girls. Albus didn’t want to risk his relationship with his brother either.   
So as the boys disembarked the train, said goodbye to each other, and the three Potter siblings were walking towards their parents, Albus decided that his decision to talk to Teddy about his love life when the man came by for dinner that evening, like he always did when the younger Potter children came home from school, was the best one.

zZz

Dinner started off normal. Mr. and Mrs. Potter were at either end of the table, with Albus and Lily on one side, and Teddy and James on the other.   
“So how’s Akimitsu?” Harry asked, the first question that veered from the academic interrogation.   
“He’s doing great,” Teddy informed. “He left yesterday to go visit his family in Kyoto. I wanted to go with him then, but he insisted that I see my family.”  
“I knew there was a reason I liked that young man,” Ginny smirked.  
Teddy scrunched his face up, changing his face and hair to match Ginny’s and exaggerated the face that Mrs. Potter had made, making the rest of the family laugh.   
“So I’m taking a Portkey over tomorrow,” Teddy continued. “But let’s not talk about my love life. What about you, Jamie? I heard there’s a special lady in your life.”  
“We broke up last week,” James said, fiddling with his food, which he’d barely eaten. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”  
“It was a very public breakup,” Lily informed when it was clear that James wasn’t going to go into detail. “It happened in the Great Hall at breakfast. Celia walked up to him, slapped him, and shouted that she was tired of carrying his ‘burden’ (complete with air quotes) all by herself.  
“And don’t ask him, he won’t spill what the burden she was carrying is.”  
“Well I don’t know what she’s talking about,” James complained. “I didn’t say anything that would have been a burden.”  
I haven’t told anybody about me being a poof, James thought before he went back his staring contest with his food. He knew that Celia had suspected him of being bent, and he didn’t know whom he was trying to fool.   
At least he wasn’t the only one out of character this evening. He looked over at his younger brother to see the same slightly guilty look on his face that had been there all day. Albus was a Slytherin; he wasn’t supposed to feel guilty about anything. If he did, he wasn’t supposed to let it show. And he’d eaten about as much of his dinner as James had.   
Seeing as both boys had inherited their appetites from their Uncle Ron, Teddy found it odd that they had lost said appetites.   
“Okay James, Albus, something’s obviously up,” Ginny said, noticing her sons’ out of character mood. “You know you can tell us anything.”  
They only got a “yeah” and “yup” from James and Albus respectively. Their mother sighed and gave her husband a commanding stare.   
Before the Hero of the Wizarding World could start pestering his sons, the two of them looked towards Teddy with pleading looks.  
“Why don’t you let me talk to them,” Teddy said. “It’ll be less embarrassing than with their parents and their girly little sister.”  
Teddy saw the brothers give each other annoyed looks as they got up to follow him to Mr. Potter’s office.  
So they were both planning on telling me something but they haven’t told each other, Teddy thought.  
When they walked into the office, Teddy made sure to lock the door and put up a silencing spell before he sat in Harry’s chair. Albus just stood in the middle of the room, standing up straighter than normal, looking from Teddy to James. James looked between the two other males from one of the two chairs in front of Harry’s desk with his knees to his chest, looking much more vulnerable than either Teddy or Albus had ever seen.  
“Okay-”  
“I’m gay,” James blurted out quickly.  
Teddy and Albus just looked at him for a moment, that being the last thing they expected to hear. All James had been talking about for the past few years was how great girls were, or how great Celia was.   
Teddy was surprised that Albus recovered before he did.  
“Well, there goes the Potter name,” he said, moving to sit in the other chair, “And you completely stole my line. I’ve been planning to tell Teddy that I’m gay since February.”  
The ginger boy and the black haired boy looked at each other for a short while before James broke the silence with a grin: “So Conall has a really nice ass, doesn’t he?”  
Albus grinned back. “I definitely agree.”  
There was a sudden clanging on the desk and the boys looked to see Teddy toying with a string on a on a bag.  
“How about a little competition,” Teddy said with a mischievous smirk. “As you know, there’s a Weasley family reunion in a week. Seeing as everyone will be there, first one to come out to everyone gets this bag of Galleons that I found in Dad’s desk.”  
Both boys paled.   
“That’s very Slytherin of you Teddy,” Albus muttered.  
“Look, you’re going to have to tell them sometime,” Teddy said, putting the bag of coins into one of his robe pockets, “just think about it. Now come on, let go eat.”  
The remaining three members of the family all gave Teddy a questioning look when the three young men returned to the table.  
“All fixed,” Teddy said before he continued eating.   
The family was quiet for several minutes, Harry, Ginny and Lily waiting for the three young men to clear their plates, which didn’t take all to long.  
“So who’s going with me to visit Dudley?” Harry asked as they finished.  
Everybody groaned.


	3. Enter the Crush!

It was the next day and James and Albus were lying on the older boy’s bed. Teddy had left about an hour earlier; Lily had gone with their father to visit the Dursleys, since she was closest to Ernie. Their mother was downstairs, being interviewed for something or other, and had commanded that they stay upstairs. They still hadn’t discussed the fact that they both preferred other boys in great detail, but they were getting there.   
“So have you told anyone else?” James asked. “About… you know…”  
“Nope,” Albus replied.   
“Not even Scorpius?” James asked, looking over and raising a ginger eyebrow.   
“He’s the last person I want to tell,” Albus said, a gigantic blush forming across his cheeks.  
James gave a knowing grin. “Just because you have a crush on the blondie doesn’t mean you can’t tell him.”  
Albus gave his brother a startled look. “How do-”  
“We’re brothers,” James said. “When you told me about being bent last night, everything clicked. He’s a good looking guy, I’ll give you that. If you don’t get him, I think I might try.” A sarcastic grin formed on his face.  
They both grinned.  
James sighed afterward. “I wouldn’t do that to you. He’s not my type: way to girly.”   
“He is rather pretty for a guy, isn’t he?” Albus responded. “But he has a man-part, so he counts.”  
“Been eyeing him up, have you?” James asked with a mischievous smirk.   
“Don’t tell me you haven’t looked at the other guys in your dorm,” Albus shot back.   
The both chuckled. If you had asked either one of them two days ago if they had ever expect to have a conversation about eyeing up other guys with each other, they would both strongly deny it. 

ZZz

It was rare that Harry had to be called into work on his off days, so when the Minister suddenly asked him to come (using a Patronus, of course), he knew something was up. Dudley had said that Lily could stay with he and Ernie for a time, so he quickly apparated into the Minister’s office. Shacklebolt was sitting behind his desk, staring intently at the young man sitting on the opposite side of the deck.   
Harry was shocked to see that the third person in the room couldn’t have been older than James or Albus. His hair was scarlet and pulled up into a ponytail that reached his shoulders. Freckles covered his face and made his pale green eyes even more disturbing. All in all, Harry found him to be an attractive young man.  
“Mr. Potter,” Shacklebolt said, “meet Edward von Koenig.”  
Edward looked directly into Harry’s eyes while offering a hand to shake, and Harry felt a chill go down his spine. He took the hand, which was oddly rough for someone Edward’s age. The redhead also wore a ring made of a pale pinkish-red stone on this hand.  
“You of course know of the war that is going on in eastern Russia, don’t you?” Shacklebolt asked.   
“Of course,” Harry said, taking the seat next to von Koenig. “But like I say every time you mention it, I know very little of it. It’s quiet, as wars go.”  
“As it should be,” von Koenig supplied. His voice quiet, but Harry could hear a certain sharpness in it that unsettled him greatly.  
Harry raised an eyebrow at him.   
“Mr. von Koenig has been serving in the war,” the Minister supplied.  
“At your age?” Harry asked, somewhat shocked.  
It was Edward’s turn to raise a scarlet eyebrow. “I am only two years younger than when you were when Voldemort was defeated. When you come from a family such as mine, it is not uncommon for us to have our first battle before you are ten. But that does not matter.”  
“Then please do say what matters,” Harry said patiently.   
Von Koenig looked between the Minister and Harry. “Have either of you heard of Homunculi?”  
“Only in reference to ancient Alchemical mythology,” Shacklebolt said, and Harry nodded in agreement.   
Edward also nodded. “A Homunculus is simply an Alchemist’s attempt to bring back the dead. They look and feel human and can communicate easily, but they are dead. They are immensely powerful, especially difficult to kill, and have an overpowering desire for death. Most importantly, they are each unique to the Alchemist that created it, feeding off of their strongest personality traits and then twisting those traits.”  
Harry started thinking. “When you say Alchemist… do you mean like-”   
“Nicolas Flamel?” Edward finished. “Flamel powered his Alchemy with the same power than any witch or wizard has inside of them. The Alchemy I practice, and this is the important type, is powered by the planet itself. While Alchemist of my type can use magic in the same sense as the both of you, we normally gather our power from the excess magic that is so abundant around us. It’s pretty much two different ways to achieve the same end, but actually Alchemy as a type of magic is much more powerful than Alchemy as a branch of Wizarding magic. It’s similar to house-elves having their own type of magic.”  
“So how does this relate to our Ministry for Magic, Mr. von Koenig?” Shacklebolt implored. “You came here suddenly, saying that you would need our cooperation.”  
“We have been fighting Homunculi in that desolate part of Russia,” von Koenig answered. “We have been able to keep them contained, mostly, but one of the more dangerous ones has escaped. I’m going to need to make sure that you allow me to kill the thing. Also, I’m going to be transferring into Hogwarts in September, since the castle has particularly strong ties to Alchemy practiced in the Middle Ages and will be able to help me to find a way to kill my target.”  
Harry noticed that the young man seemed be looking forward to killing his enemy, since a sadistic smile spread across his face as he mentioned what he had to do.   
“You will see,” von Koenig continued, “that in the file I gave you, Minister, is a recommendation from both my commanding officer and my clan leader, along with more details than I wish to explain about the Homunculus that I will be destroying.”  
“Fine,” Shacklebolt said. “Auror Potter, he will be living with you and your family until the beginning of the school year.”  
“Yes, sir,” Harry said as Edward nodded in agreement.  
“You may both go,” Shacklebolt dismissed. “I will have your belongings taken to Mr. Potter’s home, Mr. von Koenig, if you would please wait outside the door.”  
The boy nodded and left.  
“What do you know of him, Minister?” Harry asked as soon as the door was closed.   
“He is incredibly dangerous to his enemies, but not to us” Kingsley said quietly, knowing what Harry meant. The Auror would not allow anything dangerous into his home. “He is the grandson of the former Secretary of Magic, the American equivalent of Minister for Magic, through his mother, and his other grandfather helped fight off the dark creatures Grindelwald used during his rise to power. He’s technically a pureblood wizard, but as far as I know, he prefers to use his Alchemy to our magic. Apparently, he’s only done so because he’s been raised to fight in a war.  
“I suggest you don’t get on his bad side though, Harry,” Shacklebolt warned. “His value on human life is signifigately lower than yours or mine. He will make sure that this threat is eliminated, but I have no doubt that he is willing to sacrifice people who get in his way, at least in something this big.”  
“I understand, sir,” Harry said.  
“Don’t let me give you the wrong impression though,” Kingsley encouraged with a smile. “I met the boy when his grandfather was still Secretary of Magic. He’s a good, reliable kid, but he just has a more sadistic and morbid thought process than most of us.”

zZz

Lily wasn’t even going to get her hopes up on this one. Every time there was a cute boy living in her house that wasn’t related to her, nothing ever happened between them; so when her father apparated back to the park with a good looking young man in tow, she knew she was hopeless. She was twelve though, her mother kept telling her, and she had plenty of time to find a boyfriend, in a few years, of course.   
She, Ernie and Mr. Dursley all felt a shiver go down their spine as the two came closer and the redhead looked into each of their eyes.   
“This is Edward von Koenig,” Harry introduced.   
“I would shake your hands,” Edward said, “but I’ve heard that the process is often disturbing to wizard, and even more so to muggles.”  
Mr. Potter gave and unenthusiastic laugh, and Lily notice Edward’s American accent. “He’ll be staying with us until the beginning of term, then starting as a fifth year at Hogwarts.”  
“I would appreciate it if we left for your home soon, Mr. Potter,” Edward informed. “That Portkey from Moscow wore me out.” 

ZZz

There was a knock on James’ door, and the boys heard their mother’s voice. “Boys, we have a visitor.”  
James and Albus raised an eyebrow at each other and clumsily got off the bed to go downstairs. When they both arrived in the kitchen and their eyes locked with their guest’s, James saw a shiver go down his younger brother’s spine, but felt completely normal himself. That is, normal except for the fact that he quickly sat down so he could hide the forming bulge in his pants.   
He knew his head and his man-part agreed because when his mother introduced Edward, he found himself returning Edward’s charming and attractive smile.


	4. Albus: Pure Slytherin

“What do you mean, you don’t feel anything strange when he looks at you?” Albus asked James as arrived at the Burrow for the family reunion a few days after Edward (who had insisted on not coming) had arrived.   
James shrugged. “I just don’t.” The only thing he felt when he looked at von Koenig was physical attraction.   
Albus sighed. “At least it’s not as bad as a few days ago. I can actually stand to look at him when he’s talking. He talks about some pretty interesting stuff, doesn’t he?”  
James didn’t get to answer as the family had arrived at the front door and were promptly greeted by their grandparents. Teddy, Harry and Grandpa Arthur immediately went out to Arthur’s garage to see some sort of Muggle contraption that Arthur had been working on. Lily and Ginny went to help Mrs. Weasley with last minute preparations in then kitchen, so it was up to James and Albus to take theirs and Lily’s bags to where they would be spending the night (they decided to let Teddy and their parents deal with their own bags).   
The boys threw Lily’s bag into the room she would be sharing with some of the girls and then went up one more floor to the small room they would be sharing with Fred, Louis and Hugo. Instead of there being several beds in the room, there was a single bed large enough to hold the five rambunctious sleepers. They shared every time there was a reunion, and when they were younger the fact that they all tossed and turned all night hadn’t really done much. But when they had all started puberty, they had eventually started ending up either on top of each other or on the floor. They didn’t really mind much, as they were all close. Well, the only time it had gotten awkward was when Louis had a wet dream at the reunion over Christmas, and that was because nobody wanted to think about their relatives doing that sort of thing. According to Lily, she thought of all of them as eunuchs.   
The two lay on the bed, not wanting to go back down stairs and get assigned some chores before the reunion actually started.  
“So I’m thinking that when we get back home, Edward will have destroyed the house with some sort of weird, forbidden ritual,” Albus said.  
“It’ll most likely be sacrificial,” James agreed as they both grinned widely. “Blood will be splattered everywhere, gore stuck to everything. It will be disgustingly awesome, like something out of those Muggle horror films.”  
There was some noise outside and then Fred, Hugo and Louis all came in, with Louis closing and locking the door behind them and then casting a silencing charm on the room (with so many adult wizards in the house, they doubted that they would get in trouble with the Ministry).   
“What’s the precaution for?” Albus asked.   
“I don’t know,” Fred said. “We all got here about the same time, and Louis called an Emergency Meeting.”   
Teddy had started the Emergency Meetings between the boys of their generation when they were younger as a way to relieve their stresses. He reasoned that it was a better alternative to ill-natured roughhousing. It was also easier for them to talk to each other than their parents, and if the six of them couldn’t solve the problem, then they had backup when they tried to explain it to their parents. Teddy hadn’t come to one in a while, as the younger boys agreed when he became of age that he was too old and they banned him from any meetings.  
The five of them sat in a circle on the bed and all of them looked at Louis. He was probably the prettiest of them, because of the Veela blood he inherited from his mother. His father had left his mark though, since he had the solid body of a well-muscled Quidditch player liked the rest of the boys.  
“So this may have been obvious to the rest of you, but I only just figured it out a little while ago,” Louis stated. “I’m homosexual.”  
“That’s awesome!” James said and Albus nodded vigorously in agreement.   
“Really?” Louis asked.   
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Fred asked, coming into his senses a little later than the Potter brothers. “I mean, look at our glorious leader Teddy!”  
“Yeah, and the two of us!” James added, gesturing to himself and Albus.  
Everybody looked at him in surprise.   
“Oh, yeah,” the ginger muttered, “we haven’t told you yet, but…”  
“James and I are also gay,” Albus finished.  
The five boys looked between each other.  
“Hugo…” Fred began, “please tell me you’re attracted to girls.”  
The smaller ginger nodded.  
Fred gave a sigh of relief and then the signature Weasley grin appeared. “Man, what has Uncle Harry been feeding you guys? If Lily turns out to be a lesbian…”   
“No!” James and Albus said in unison.  
The other three boys laughed. They all knew that once Lily got a boyfriend, her older brothers would put him through hell if he broke up with her. They wouldn’t be able to do that if Lily broke up with a girl.   
“So do you guys want to come out to the family while we’re here?” Hugo asked, not one who usually likes to stray off a subject.   
“Hopefully,” Louis said and he looked at the Potter brothers. “It would be nice if all three of us told our parents at the same time.”  
Albus and James looked at each other and they both felt their hearts start to beat faster. It was one thing to tell their cousins, it was a completely different thing to tell their parents. While they both knew that they were perfectly accepting of Teddy, Teddy wasn’t supposed to carry on the Potter name. While they were sure that they would be accepting, Harry and Ginny were still their parents.   
James sighed. “Well, men, it is time we found our Gryffindor courage.”  
“But I’m a Slytherin!”  
“Yes, well, Albus, you’re also a Weasley, so you must have some courage inside of you,” James said. “Even if it is hidden underneath all the snark.”

ZZz

When someone knocked on the door of 12 Grimmauld Place, three hours after the Potters left, Edward grimaced at the fact that people always came around when he had his head in the middle of his favorite Muggle contraption: the refrigerator. As he walked up the stairs to get the door, he tried to think of how he was going to get rid of whoever decided to come around while he was alone in a home of a family he barely knew in a country he had been in for less than a week.  
As he was about to open the door, he decided on fire, but then remember that he wasn’t in Russia anymore and probably couldn’t get away with murder in London.   
Edward opened the door to a boy about his age with sandy blond hair and deep blue eyes.  
“What can I do to make you go away?” Edward asked.  
“Umm…” the boy started. “Is James here?”  
“No,” Edward said flatly and he started to close the door, but the boy caught it.  
“Can you just tell him that his friend Conall came by,” the boy, Conall, said.   
“He’ll be back day after tomorrow, come back and tell him then.” Edward closed the door completely this time. Before he moved away, though, he paused and thought of how Conall, who looked under aged, had gotten to Grimmauld Place. He hadn’t see anyone else in the square.  
He opened the door again (it had only been about seven seconds), to see Conall sitting on the steps.  
“What are you doing?” Edward asked. “You do realize that this is a Muggle community and that they don’t know this house is here. You could be messing up some sort of weird magical thingy that I don’t really care about.”  
“My dad doesn’t get back for another two hours,” Conall answered.   
The two boys started at each other for a few seconds.   
Edward sighed. “I normally wouldn’t do this, but you might as well come in.”  
Stupid muggles and stupid International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, Edward thought. 

ZZz

As Conall passed the young man, he noticed a red eyebrow rise.  
“Do you realize that you have a fantastic butt?” the boy asked.   
Conall gave a wry grin. “Yes, I do realize that.”  
“Well then,” the boy muttered, then the two walked further into the home.  
“Who exactly…” Conall began to ask.  
“You only need to know that my name is Edward and I will murder you in your sleep if you ever mention more of this conversation than is required,” Edward murmured. 

ZZz

Dinner was always loud at these reunions, and knowing that it got louder as the evening went on and the adults got drunker, James knew that if they didn’t do it now, bad things might happen.   
So, James loudly cleared his throat. “I have an announcement to make.”  
“You didn’t get a girl pregnant, did you James?” Teddy asked with a mischievous grin.  
That silenced everyone in the room.  
“You know quite well, Teddy, that I have done no such thing,” James replied. This rose more than a few eyebrows, since it was rare that James would talk this way in such a serious fashion.   
Teddy decided to continue: “You didn’t loose a-”  
“I’m gay!” Albus suddenly shouted. Everybody looked at him in shock and the black haired boy’s eyes widened, and a look of horror spread across his face. James gave him a weak grin and pulled his younger brother into a hug. The boys’ parents came and did the same.  
“I’m sorry,” Albus muttered, “sorry for springing this on you like this.”  
“Sweetie,” Ginny said, patting Albus’s hair. “You know we’ll always love you.”  
Suddenly Albus had a large grin on his face, as though he had suddenly thought of something sneaky…  
“Don’t you dare!” James said and he backed away from his family.  
“You know,” Albus said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “I do believe we should have a toast!”  
The Slytherin suddenly grabbed a glass full of Butterbeer. He raised it to his ginger brother. “Let’s have a toast: to the end of the Potter name.”  
If James still had any doubts that his brother was a Snake, they would have left then. Albus was pure evil.


	5. Freckles

Two hours came and went and Conall was still sitting at the kitchen table with Edward, both on their third pint of ice cream (Geminio applied to food was a teenage boy’s best friend).   
“I love that you know that way around Gamp’s law,” Conall said.  
“Well, since we were smart and used Geminio before we were out, we technically weren’t going around Gamp’s law,” Edward replied.  
“Now wasn’t your father supposed to be here by now?” Edward asked.   
Conall’s face suddenly turned depressed. “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”  
“Indeed. As much as I’ve enjoyed having someone to eat too much ice cream with, it would be nice to know that you just haven’t been dropped here for the rest of your life.”  
Conall didn’t say anything.   
Edward sighed and looked down at his ice cream. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not going back home.”  
“Well,” Conall said, “let’s just say that I said something to my parents and that I think it would be best if I just stayed away from home for a few days…”  
“So they kicked you out?” Edward asked bluntly.  
“Obviously,” Conall replied.   
Silence.  
“Okay, but you’re sleeping on the couch,” Edward said. “Now I have some research to do. I suggest that you send an owl to the Burrow so the Potters won’t be surprised when they come back and find out you’re living with them.”

ZZz

The Potter family, plus Teddy, stood quietly outside in the garden, away from the shock Weasley family (who had a third bombshell after Louis decided to tell them about his preferences as well).   
Albus decided to break the silence first: “I want my Galleons, Teddy.”  
“Of course, of course,” Teddy said with a grin, pulling out the bag of coins and tossing them to the youngest boy.   
“So how are you feeling about this Mum, Dad?” James asked.

“Well, I can’t say that I’m not a little surprised,” Harry said. “But if you’re sure, you know that I don’t care about stuff like my name… You are sure about this, right.”  
“Yes, Dad,” both boys replied.  
“Then I guess that I had better get used to the overwhelming smell of shaving cream in the morning,” Ginny said.   
“It won’t be that bad,” Teddy said. “The two of them are barely shaving as it is.”  
“Hey! Not all of us have the ability to change our appearance at will,” James said.   
“So,” Ginny started, “any boys yet?”  
There was an embarrassed “no!” from both boys, much to the amusement of the rest of the family.  
Before anyone could continue, they heard the flapping of owl wings, and the bird they recognized as Edward’s landed on the garden wall, sticking its leg out.   
Harry took the letter and as he read it, the owl flew off, not waiting for a response letter.  
“It looks as though Conall was kicked out and is staying with us for a little while,” Harry said. “He’s also apparently slightly terrified of Edward.”   
“How wouldn’t he be?” Lily chimed in.

ZZz

Emilia Bonheur was an attractive witch, or so Scorpius had been told. She came from a wealthy pureblooded family from France, and had the snobbish attitude to match. Scorpius didn’t like her, especially since her father was thinking about the two of them getting married.   
He was fourteen! He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about getting married. Fourteen-year-old boys were supposed to be thinking about school and sex and Albus and girlfriends, not getting married!  
Wait, Scorpius thought. Albus? Why was he in that thought process?  
Scorpius did know that he would rather think about Albus than Ms. Bonheur. He was much more pleasant, not just personality wise, but in the way he looked.   
I mean, this girl’s nose has to be four times the size of Albus’s, Scorpius thought. And no freckles either.  
Scorpius liked freckles, and Albus had a lot of them. Well, his entire family (excluding his father) had a lot of freckle, but they looked best on Albus.  
As Emilia continued to rant on in her heavy accent, Scorpius drifted into memories of he and Albus. He decided that if he was going to marry anyone, it might as well be his best friend, even if his best friend was also a boy. Plus, Albus was awesome, and Scorpius didn’t see any reason why he had to marry someone who wasn’t as awesome as Albus.

ZZz

When Conall woke up before dawn the next morning to a loud hissing noise from the room Edward was staying in and the house shaking, he knew something was up. Any monkey with half a banana could figure that out. The boy quickly found his wand and started to creep up the stares. When he came to Edward’s door, there was mist coming out from under it. Conall quickly opened the door to find it only a bed and a truck in one corner and a glowing white orb floating in the center of the room.  
Edward wasn’t there.

ZZz

As a person, Edward von Koenig always strived for perfection in everything he did. As an Alchemist, he sought to perfect everything about the Art, and to expand his knowledge by any mean necessary.   
So when it had been announced that the Homunculus called Ragnus had escaped and had been seen on the British Isles, the young Alchemist saw the perfect chance to expand his knowledge and power. He volunteered instantly to be the one to track down and destroy Ragnus.   
He knew that in order to kill the homunculus, he would have to find a way to fight him on equal terms. Ed had been working on series of Transmutation Arrays when he had volunteered and he knew that he was close to perfecting them.  
The morning after that Conall boy had arrived, Edward activated the Array. When he saw the orb glowing in the perfect, colorless white, he knew that he was almost on equal terms.

ZZz

It was a fine morning in the summer of 1995 when Alastor Moody felt that feeling in his gut. Normally when he had this feeling, something bad would happen.   
As he was the only one awake in 12 Grimmauld Place, he was the only one to see (through the walls and floor with his magical eye, of course) a small white orb of light appear in one of the second floor bedrooms. Mad-Eye knew the boy that seemed to appear out of the orb moments later was going to be trouble. The Auror knew immediately the boy was an Alchemist, and a particularly prolific one judging from the vast amount of Alchemical arrays and symbols all over his face and toned body.   
Suddenly, the boy’s eyes, which were completely black- even the eyeballs- with alchemical power, met Moody’s magical eye and he slowly mouthed:  
Do not wake anyone. We need to talk. 

ZZz

It was a little more than awkward when the five boys got under the covers of their bed to go to sleep that evening.   
“The three of you better not start humping each other, okay,” Fred said. “We wouldn’t want to scar Hugo.”  
“We’re gay, not incestuous,” Louis informed.  
“I wouldn’t put the idea past James,” Albus said. “I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that he wants to shag my brains out.”  
“Hey! I do not!” James shot back, elbowing his younger brother in the ribs.   
Albus gave his brother a pouting look. “Are you saying that I’m ugly.”  
“What? No!” James said. “You’re a great looking guy.”  
“So you do wanna have sex with me?”  
James just sighed and turned on his shoulder, away from his brother. “At least I know I’m not the only pervert in the family.”

ZZz 

“You’re here from July of 2021?” Moody asked the boy, now identified as Edward and sitting across the kitchen table from him.   
“That’s what I said.” Edward said, taking a sip of his coffee. “This coffee’s delicious by the way. I especially love the addition of that little poison, of which I won’t mention the name.”  
Moody raised his eyebrow. Edward stuck out his tongue, revealing a simple black circle on the top.  
Neither said anything for a few seconds.   
“So I’ve only got a few more minutes,” Edward said. “The Array will force me back to my time, as a fail safe. Next time, I’ll set the fail safe for longer.”   
Moody just nodded.  
“I’m going to need you to do a favor,” Ed continued.   
“If it’s reasonable,” Moody agreed.  
“Can you have the bedroom I entered through empty in three days at five in the morning. It’ll be nice if Dumbledore was there.”  
The Auror considered it. “The room will be empty. I won’t guarantee Dumbledore though.”  
Edward just nodded, and a few seconds later, Moody saw the white orb in the bedroom glow even brighter, and soon von Koenig was gone.


	6. Attempting the Talk

Conall sighed. He could have at least waited until I was wearing a pair of pants to do something crazy.  
When he was about to turn around, he saw the little orb start to glow brighter and Edward appeared out of nowhere, slamming into Conall and forcing them both to the ground.  
Von Koenig smirked. “Good morning,” he said in an excited voice before climbing off of the other boy in an ungraceful fashion. He held out a hand and his stubble-covered face contorted to give Conall a sweet smile, which the blonde boy suspected was rare. Conall gladly took the hand. As usual, he felt a small shiver go down his spine, but he was getting used to it.  
“I take it I woke you up this morning,” Edward said, to which Conall nodded. “Well, I apologize. I also suggest you put on some pants. Those boxer briefs don’t leave much to the imagination, especially when yours is that big.”  
That was the first time a boy caused Conall to blush. 

ZZz

Albus woke up with a massive morning wood. He looked around the bed to see that James, who had been sleeping next him, was getting up off the end of the bed. The two young men both went into the attached bathroom and started lathering up to shave.   
“So I see that I’m not the only one who woke up hard,” James muttered right before pulling the razor down.   
“Look,” Albus said, “I know my cock is amazing, and I know we’re close, but I would appreciate it if you don’t perv on me this early in the morning.”  
They finished shaving in silence, and went back into the bedroom and put on some clothing.   
As they walked out, Albus decided to continue the conversation. “So what’s up with you looking at my nether regions?”   
“Well, it not just yours,” James said. “It was just that it was up against my hip when I woke up this morning. And don’t tell me you haven’t looked my nether regions, as you put it.”  
“Well, yeah,” Albus replied. “But I don’t comment on it.”  
They heard a shrill “EEW!” from behind the door they were passing (the girls’ room, Albus realized) and several other girls laughing.  
“I told you not to listen Lily,” they heard Rose say.  
“They’re boys, what do you expect them to talk about?” Molly II said.  
Both boys chuckled as they continued down the stairs.   
They quickly went to the kitchen, where Grandmother Molly was cooking up a delicious meal.  
The smell made both boys’ stomachs rumble loudly.   
Grandma Molly smiled at the both of them. “Come in, boys, and dig in!”  
Both gladly did so, shoveling in bacon and ham and toast and all sorts of other breakfast stuffs. After a few minutes, Harry, Louis, and Louis’s father Bill came in. Louis sat nest to James and Albus while their fathers sat on the other side of the table. The young Weasley did the same as Albus and James had earlier.   
Harry gave Mrs. Weasley a knowing smile, which she returned as she left the room.  
“Boys,” Bill started once his mother was out of the room, “Harry and I both think we need to have a talk. About sex between gay men.”  
Louis and James looked at them in shock. Albus, of course, didn’t change his facial expression.  
“I think that we,” Albus said, gesturing to his cousin and brother, “being gay males for longer than just last night, already know at least as much as the two of you. And wouldn’t Teddy be more appropriate for this?”  
“Plus,” Louis added, running his fingers through his long red hair, “I seriously doubt that you want to talk with us about us finding taking it up the ass attractive…”  
“Or chest hair and morning stubble being a turn on,” James added.  
“Or why performing the 69 with two men is theoretically better than with a man and a woman,” Albus contributed.  
Everybody looked at Albus.  
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that,” Louis stated.  
“And you two say I’m the perv,” James said.  
Albus shrugged. “I have my moments.”  
“You should hear my mother talk,” Louis informed, his face twisting is disgust.  
Bill and Harry gave each other a slightly disgusted look.  
“I’m going to go get Teddy,” Harry said, quickly getting out of his chair.  
“Good idea,” Bill agreed, quickly following his brother-in-law.  
The three boys smiled (well, Albus’s was more of a smirk) at each other as the two fathers left to go find Teddy, glad to avoid that conversation. They had all received the Talk when their fathers thought they were heterosexual, and they knew it would have been worse this time around. 

ZZz

Upstairs in the girls’ room, Molly, Lily and Rose were sitting in a circle, facing each other. Dominique was sitting in the room’s chair, Roxanne was still sleeping, and Victoire was in the bathroom performing her morning ritual.   
“I can’t believe that even though all three of them are gay, not one of my brothers is the stereotypical gay guy,” Lily was complaining.   
“Louis is the same way,” Dominique stated. “The boy is such a pervert.”  
Lily groaned. “You should hear James. Did you hear him talking to Albus after dinner last night? Most of the time, Al at least has the decency to keep his mouth shut when he knows people can hear him.”  
“I really do wish that when one of them gets a boyfriend, said boyfriend will be able to go on a shopping spree with all of us and not complain,” Rose contributed.  
All of the other girls laughed at this as Victoire came out of the bathroom. “So what are we talking about this early in the morning?”  
“About how all the boys in our family love thinking about where they stick their cock,” Lily said unabashedly. “Oh, don’t look at me like that! I have three older brothers! That seems to be the only thing I hear them talking about these days.”

ZZz

When Teddy came into the kitchen with a large grin, the boys knew they had nothing to worry about.   
“I hear you ran off Dad and Uncle Bill,” he said and the boy smiled. “Come on. Let’s go talk outside so Grandma can have her kitchen back.”  
The three boys groaned as they got up to follow Teddy out.  
“Come on! Your fathers would murder me if I didn’t at least talk a little after you scared them off.”  
So the four of them started slowly walking through the countryside that surrounded the Burrow, but always staying within sight of the home.   
“So I’m not going to talk with you about the mechanics of it,” Teddy started. “That’s something you and your future partner should find out on your own when the time comes. There’s obviously no need to worry about pregnancy. If it turns out he gets pregnant, then there’s obviously something wrong with your relationship.”  
All of them chuckled.  
“The important thing to remember is the risk for STDs,” Teddy said. The older boy then went on to explain how to perform all the spells needed for safe sex.  
“The last thing I can share with you about sex is to always be discreet about it,” Teddy concluded. “Mum caught Akimitsu and I doing it over our kitchen table once. I don’t think she’s recovered yet. So make sure all floo access is cut off and all doors are locked.”  
“So that’s why we don’t go to your place for surprise visits anymore!” Albus exclaimed.   
“I wish I could have seen it!” James complained. “Akimitsu looks hung.”  
Louis nodded in agreement.   
Teddy just smiled and looked at the three of them. “You don’t know how proud I am of you. I know it takes a lot of courage to do what you did last night. Coming out to your family is the hard part.”  
“There’s still a few people that it will be tough to tell, though,” Albus muttered.   
“Thinking of Scorpius?” Teddy asked.   
Albus blushed and nodded.  
“You know, just because you have a crush on him doesn’t mean you can’t tell him you’re gay,” Teddy said.  
Albus groaned. “Does everyone know that I like Scorp?”  
“Nope,” Louis said. “I think just the three of us.”  
Albus’s face turned even redder.   
“What about you, James, Louis?” Teddy asked. “Any crushes.”  
Louis was the first to answer. “Yup. And I’ll even give you all a hint: this guy has the best bum in the school!”  
Albus looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Conall?” Louis nodded and blushed slightly.  
James grinned at this. “If he were actually gay, he would definitely be able to satisfy your desire of taking it. He has a monster of a cock.”  
“It’s rather unfortunate, isn’t it?” Albus asked. “Liking a straight guy, that is.”  
Teddy kept to himself that he didn’t quite think that young Scorpius was as straight as everyone thought he was.

ZZz

Edward and Conall ate their breakfast in silence, at least until Conall’s curiosity got the better of him.  
“So is your hair naturally that scarlet color?” he asked. “Because your stubble’s orange.”  
Edward barely glanced up from his food. “I’m naturally ginger, like James. There was an accident with one of the younger Alchemist a few weeks ago that turned it this color. It should be back to normal in a few days or so.”  
They fell into silence again, with the only sound being the scraping of silverware.   
“Okay, this may be a bit personal,” Edward said all of a sudden, “but are you seeing anybody? Surely a good looking guy such as yourself has a girlfriend. Of course, you’re like me in that our man-parts are to big to be taken comfortably by most girls our age.”  
Conall looked at him in shock. Did he really just say that? How can he talk about stuff like that with someone he just met?  
“It’s because I was stationed with fifteen other teenage guys,” Edward said. Conall cringed when he realized he had said that aloud.   
“We had to get used to each other really quickly, since we didn’t have any privacy at all,” he continued. “I’ve found that it’s nearly universal for teenage guys to be perverts and perpetually horny, so it’s a decent conversation starter when trying to get to know one another. You know you have something in common.  
“You never did answer my question,” he continued. “Are you seeing anybody?”  
Conall shook his head. “I’m unfortunately single.”   
“Well, that’s not that unfortunate,” Edward said, and he left it at that. 

ZZz

Scorpius preferred to have private conversations with his mother over his father. Astoria Malfoy, while elegant, refined, and proper in public, was much more relaxed and humorous in private. Scorpius can’t remember ever seeing his father relaxed. The boy loved just lounging in the Manor’s drawing room alone with his mother from time to time. Especially when he was going through hard times. Mr. Malfoy, while not as cruel as his father had been, was still a distant person. That was why Scorpius always liked talking to his mum instead of his father.  
“Mother,” Scorpius started, “I don’t think Ms. Bonheur is right for me.”  
Astoria sighed. “I was getting that feeling.” She paused for a few seconds. “Well, I’ll talk to your father when he come home from work this evening.”  
Scorpius just nodded.   
I seriously doubt that I’ll ever get a girl like Albus, he thought. Maybe I should just date a boy. They don’t have a ‘time of the month’ or anything like that.   
“Marrying a boy would be a lot easier,” Scorpius mused aloud. “There’s a lot less drama with boys.”  
Astoria laughed. “That is most certainly true. Now, hypothetically speaking, if you were to marry a boy, they would still have to be from a reputable family. Do you have any thoughts?”  
“Well,” Scorpius said with a large grin, “how about Albus?”  
Astoria mocked a serious thinking face. “Yes, the Potters are certainly a reputable family these days. Very well then, I will owl the Potters immediately. They must know that young Albus will soon be joining the Malfoy family!”  
They both grinned at each other.   
“Thanks, Mum,” Scorpius said, bending down and giving his mother a kiss on the cheek (he was taller than her at the age of 14). He then exited the room, stage right.   
My, how he’s grown, Astoria thought. And there was certainly some hidden message in that conversation, that was obvious.   
Mrs. Malfoy smiled. She knew that Scorpius would tell her when he was ready. 

ZZz

James and Albus were very disappointed about the fact that Grimmauld Place was still in one piece when they arrived home that evening. The two boys quickly put their bags in their respective rooms, before going into the drawing room to join Edward and Conall. They were going to have a serious conversation with the alchemist about how exactly you conduct experiments, and the proper way to destroy a house.   
Well, James thought, I might as well tell them now.


	7. Not a Euphemism

Albus was constantly amazed by the people he knew. He wasn’t exactly amazed by their personalities, but he was intrigued by the different types of people he knew (and was related to…).   
So there he was, walking down Diagon Alley. James and Conall were walking out in front (Conall had taken his best friend being homosexual quite well, as expected, when he was told in July), followed closely by Albus’s parents. Mr. Potter had Lily on his back, and the young girl was excitedly pointing out everywhere they should go.   
Albus was a little bit behind everybody, walking slowly with a now ginger Edward by his side. Of course, the Potter had no idea what the Alchemist was saying.  
“…So by incorporating the Taijitu into the center of the Pentagram, I was able to minimize the risk of radiation exposure when summoning…”  
Albus just smiled and nodded. He was finding that Edward was a halfway decent guy if he was talking about things he knew. While he wasn’t the most socially integrated person –as in he seemingly enjoyed explaining countless ways the people they passed could die or be murdered aloud- Albus just figured that it would take him a little time to get used to being back in normal society. Of course, Albus didn’t know if the ginger boy had ever been in normal society.   
The young Potter was content, though. He was until the group turned a corner and they saw Scorpius sitting outside with his mother at one of the restaurants, and Albus remembered why he had come along in the first place.   
When Edward saw Albus gulp, Albus was glad that he had enough social knowledge to proclaim that he was going to get some more materials for something or other.   
“Hey Alby,” James whispered into Albus’s ear, “I give you permission to tell him about me as well. It’ll be one less person for me to tell!”  
He and Conall walked off, with Lily deciding to follow the boys. Harry and Ginny greeted Astoria, and the three adults walked into the shop across from the restaurant, knowing that Albus and Scorpius wanted to speak privately.   
“So…” Albus began awkwardly. In this one instance, Albus wished he were more like James, who could blurt things out without any trouble.  
“Yup…” Scorpius said. “So what did you want to talk with me about?”  
“Umm, well,” Albus said. “You know how we tell each other everything?”  
“Are you about to tell me you’re gay?” Scorpius asked.  
“How did you know?” Albus exclaimed.   
Scorpius smirked. “Takes one to know one.”  
They both looked at each other for a moment before they both broke into large grins.   
“So guess what this means?” Scorpius asked.   
“What?”  
“Our dorm is four for four,” Scorpius said, pointing over Albus’s shoulder. Al turned to see the other two members of their dorm, Ethan and Evan, strolling down Diagon Alley together. The two brunettes’ pinkies were interlocked, and Ethan’s warm brown eyes and Evan’s cool blue ones would shyly meet every few moments. The pair got close enough to notice Scorpius and Albus staring at them with mad grins on their faces.  
“Hey guys,” Ethan said confidently while Evan just stood there blushing. Ethan was always the more outgoing of the two (even though they could both be quite loud).   
“Guess what?” Scorpius said. When he received raised eyebrows from the brown haired boys, he continued: “All of us like men.”  
“No way!” Evan said.  
“How did your brother take that, Albus?” Ethan asked.  
“He didn’t mind at all, actually,” Albus replied. “I think it’s because of the fact that he’s also gay.”  
Scorpius literally did a spit take. “You’ve got to be kidding!”  
Albus shook his head.  
“What have your parents been feeding you guys?” Scorpius asked.   
“That’s what Fred said,” Albus said as the four boys decided to sit down at the table. “So how long have you two been a thing?”  
“Since the beginning of June,” Ethan said. “Next week we’ll have been together two months.”  
“That’s rather awesome,” Albus said. The two boys shrugged.   
“It’ll be nice that we aren’t the only couple in our dorm, though,” Ethan informed.  
Both Scorpius and Albus looked at them in shock.  
“We- we’re not dating,” Albus said.  
“Yeah, we just told each other about being gay a few moments before we saw you,” Scorpius said. “I haven’t even told my father!”  
“Wait,” Albus said. “I told my entire, gigantic family, all at once, and you haven’t even told your parents?”  
“Mother knows,” Scorpius said quietly.   
Albus sighed. He knew quite well why Scorpius hadn’t told his father. Mr. Malfoy, while not as strict as Lucius, would have still preferred that his line be continued through biological means. That wasn’t likely to happen since his only son preferred guys.   
“So things aren’t going to get awkward between us in the bathroom, right?” Evan asked.   
The other three boys were quiet for a few seconds.   
“It shouldn’t,” Albus said. “I mean, you guys aren’t going to be shagging in there, are you?”  
Both Ethan and Evan blushed deeply.   
“We haven’t gotten that far,” Ethan said. “And I think we’re going to wait a little while. We’re only fourteen after all.”  
Scorpius smiled. “I’ve always thought that puppy love was adorable.”  
“You find something adorable?” Albus asked. “That’s a first. Next you’ll be telling us that you don’t care about how your hair looks.”  
“Hey!” Scorpius exclaimed, but he couldn’t help but laugh with the other boys.  
“So I think that we need to establish some rule for relationships in the dorm,” Ethan said. “I mean, we’re probably going to all have sex at school before we graduate.” He and Evan gave each other suggestive looks.   
“Well, James and his dorm mates apparently put a tie on the door handle to warn others off,” Albus informed. “We should probably do the same.” 

ZZz

Every seven seconds or so, Astoria would look out of the shop window at Scorpius and his housemates with a worried look on her face.   
“Don’t worry so much,” Ginny told the worried Malfoy, who was watching the boy with light brown hair, Ethan, lean over and give the other brown-haired boy a quick kiss on the nose. Scorpius and Albus both made funny faces at them while Evan blushed.   
“That was so sweet I think I might get a cavity,” Ginny said dryly. The two continued to watch (later they would refuse to say that they were creeping) the boys as Scorpius and Albus began to mockingly pretend to be sweet, and being jokingly hit by the couple on the other side of the table. Then it looked as though Ethan said something insulting to the blonde and black haired boys, all the while having a sideways smile. He and Evan laughed this time.   
Ginny wondered if insulting each other and other people was the primary way for Slytherin boys to bond with each other. She knew that Gryffindor males like to talk about things like sports and other boyish things (more so than the rest of the male population). From what she heard from Luna, Ravenclaw boys liked to share stories of impressing people with their knowledge. Apparently, Hufflepuffs were just nice to everyone. Albus had always enjoyed playfully throwing insults around when he was in the mood to be sociable, and it seemed as though the other three boys shared his interest, so Ginny guessed that it was a somewhat Slytherin trait. Of course, it didn’t really help the fact that it was probably one of the reasons why people still didn’t like Slytherin house as much as the others.   
Mrs. Potter had to make sure she didn’t start spewing anything insulting about her youngest son’s house, as her fellow… observer, was a Slytherin alumni.  
“Will you two stop,” Harry said as he came up behind the women. “They’re not going to get into trouble.”  
Both women sighed. 

ZZZ

James, Conall and Lily found Edward looking for a wand in Ollivander’s.   
“I’ve never had a wand,” von Koenig stated while Ollivander was in the back searching for a wand. “You don’t need one to perform Alchemy, you see. I’ve tried about half a dozen already, but Mr. Ollivander says that he finally knows which one will work.”  
As he said this, Ollivander came back.  
“Here we are,” the aging wizard said. “Aspen with Dragon Heartstring and thirteen inches. Extremely flexible.”  
Edward took the wand, and the only thing that seemed to happen was that his mouth turned into a large grin.   
“I feel it,” he said.  
Ollivander nodded. “Very good. That’ll be nine galleons.”


	8. Hi Grandma Molly

Scorpius was probably the happiest he had ever been when he Flooed home from Diagon Alley. He was happy because he knew that he wasn’t alone. The blonde had thought that being gay would have build up barriers between he and Albus, but it had probably only brought them closer. What made it even better was that now Scorpius knew that he stood a chance. Knowing that the guy he was crushing on also liked guys filled him up with so much hope, he felt like he was going to exploded from pure joy. Even with the disturbing comments Edward had made about random things after the entire group had gotten back together he was happy.  
Astoria couldn’t remember a time when she had seen her son happier. Even though Scorpius hadn’t told her anything, she knew her son well enough that she had already starting to think of wedding presents for when he and Albus got married…   
…And how to break the news to the boy’s father that his only heir was gay.

ZZZ

Edward wondered why he had to stand with all of the first years during the sorting ceremony. He was going into his fifth year! He could have been sorted before the feast even started! But no! The Alchemist had to stand there as a giant among midgets and wait until he was called out with the kids whose surnames began with “K.” Thank goodness “von” was a preposition.   
The Potters and Weasleys watched in anticipation. They all knew which house he was going to be sorted into, but they also knew that he was full of surprises.   
Albus sighed when Ed was sorted into his house after a few seconds under the hat. There goes the small amount of progress Slytherin has made in convincing people we’re not evil.   
Edward, not knowing anybody else, sat down across Albus and Scorpius.  
“That took longer than expected,” Scorpius said, knowing full well what Ed could be like.  
Von Koenig shrugged. “It considered putting me in Ravenclaw for all of two seconds. Then I threatened to stick it up the back-side of a giraffe and it agreed that this was the house for me!”  
“Where would you get a giraffe?” Albus said.  
“I’m thinking Somalia. I know a guy.”  
There was a commotion a little ways down the table from them, and then Sean Chang and Charlotte Watson, the fifth year Slytherin Prefects, came up and introduced themselves to Ed.  
Watson was an average looking girl, but Albus knew that Sean was a good looking guy, even though he wasn’t his type. Son of Cho Chang (who was starting as the Arithmancy professor this term) and her ex-husband, Sean seemed to have taken mostly after his mother. He had inherited his muggle father’s, who left Professor Chang shortly before she gave birth because she told him she was a witch, deep blue eyes. Being a chaser on their shared house’s Quidditch team also kept him slim and athletic.   
“Pleasure meeting you both.”  
As the pair walked away, Albus noticed Ed’s eyes lingering on the black haired boy. So did Scorpius. The pair gave each other knowing looks before continuing with their dinner.

ZZZ

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore knew something had gone wrong immediately. It would be obvious to anyone who had the same information on the subject as he did. Instead of only one person appearing from the ball of light, there were three: all three were Slytherins, if the robes were anything to go by. Also, the redheaded boy with all of the dark markings immediately fell to his knees and starting coughing up blood. Ignoring the other two young men, Dumbledore quickly rushed over to the boy, whose markings had already begun to slowly back away.   
The boy, Edward, if Dumbledore remembered what Moody had told him, held up his hand. “Just give me a second.” His voice was rough and raw, like it was being forced through a pile of shattered glass. He then proceeded to take several deep breaths, every once and a while coughing up more blood.   
The wizened old professor took this time to observe the other students. The two Slytherin boys were looking at their housemate with concern, but didn’t seem all too confused about what was going on. Dumbledore immediately thought he knew at least who each boy’s father was.   
Edward took one final deep breath before slowly crawling over to the wall, so he was sitting up against it.  
“You could… have killed me,” he said, his voice now breathy. “You’re here now… though… so possibly… screwing up the… space-time continuum… will be your… punishment.”  
The other two teenagers looked at him in shock and fear, and even Dumbledore felt somewhat surprised.  
“But we did exactly what you told us to do!” the black hair boy said.   
Edward gave a wry smirk. “Come on,” he started, having gotten his breath back, “do you really think I never thought this might happen? I know that you’re not here because of anything you did.”  
He, with the help of the two other boys, was able to slowly stand up and lean against the wall.  
“The only way that you can screw up the timeline is if I die,” he said. “That would be horrible.”  
He looked to Dumbledore. “I can’t believe you believed Moody. He’s crazier than the history books say.”  
“I was right to trust him this time,” Dumbledore replied. “What happened?”  
The other two teenage boys looked towards Edward, since he seemed to be the only person who knew everything about what was going on. The alchemist took another deep breath. All of the dark marking had disappeared, and he seemed to be close to normal, if somewhat exhausted. “It was the evening after the Start-of-Term Feast. It was a Saturday, so I decided to set up my circle in an abandoned classroom Headmistress Sinistra had given permission for me to use.”  
He gestured to the other two Slytherin boys. “With Al’ and Scorpius’s help, I was able to complete it a little before dinner. When we went back after dinner, they decided to come along… Don’t get me started on why.  
The other two boys gave him blank looks.  
“This is August 1995, right?” Edward asked.  
Dumbledore nodded. “The fifteenth, to be exact.”  
“Good,” Edward said. “That’ll mean that it’s past Mr. Potter’s hearing and most of the Order of the Phoenix will be here. Spectacular.”

ZZZ

The senior Molly Weasley was usually the first one to rise in the morning if Dumbledore wasn’t around. He was around this morning. What she didn’t expect was to find the kitchen table to be occupied before six in the morning. By teenagers.   
“Ah, good morning, Molly,” Dumbledore said as he walked up behind the woman. “I see you’ve stumbled upon our guest. I think I’ll let them introduce themselves.”  
The ginger Slytherin boy decided to go first. “I’m Edward von Koenig. I’m also the only one who’s supposed to be here.”  
He went back to reading his journal.   
The blonde Slytherin went next. “It is nice to see you again, Mrs. Weasley. I am Scorpius Malfoy.”  
Molly just nodded, since she hadn’t really been paying attention to those two. She had kept her eyes on the boy that looked almost exactly like Harry, only without the scar and glasses, and with freckles and Slytherin robes. And he was definitely taller than Harry, and his body had a bit more muscle. That wasn’t much of an accomplishment though.   
“Hi Grandma Molly,” the black haired boy said. “I’m Albus Potter.”  
Molly nearly fainted.


	9. Inquisition

Edward and Scorpius watched from the far side of the kitchen as Albus awkwardly interacted with his grandmother. The woman had quickly found out about the fact that one Harry Potter had married and reproduced with her only daughter, and was busy pestering him about some of the finer details of his life. Per Dumbledore’ and Ed’s orders, they stayed clear from anything having to do before James Sirius entered Hogwarts.   
“So why exactly did you want to come back in time?” Scorpius said.  
“To prove that I could,” Ed replied with a wave of his hand.   
“I doubt that,” Scorpius muttered.  
The blonde saw his companion give a smirk. “Don’t worry. You’ll most likely find out eventually. We’re going to be here a while.”  
“Do I want to know how long?”  
Von Koenig smiled. “It’s not that bad. We’ll be back in our own time by the end of October.”  
“I hate to break it to you, but you have a greatly distorted sense of good and bad.”  
Edward shrugged. “Consider yourself lucky that you have a way back.”  
Scorpius didn’t reply, and they both went back to quietly drinking their coffee.  
After a few more moments, Dumbledore came back.  
“Molly, would you been able to find some more appropriate clothing for the boys here. We would much rather have some people just to conclusions about them based on their house robes.”  
“Of course, of course,” Mrs. Weasley said before she scuttled out of the kitchen.  
Al let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Professor. That was starting to be an inquisition.”   
“Wait until you meet your parents,” Scorpius said with a grin.  
“Wait until you meet yours,” Albus shot back.  
Scorpius’s already pale skin got noticeably paler.  
Albus sneered. “I thought so.”  
Soon after, Molly had come back with some clothes, and the boys were quickly changed. Albus and Scorpius tried their hardest to make sure that their eyes didn’t linger too long on one of the other boys. Seeing as they’re homosexual teenage boys, though, they didn’t succeed very well. Luckily, they didn’t notice each other. That’s what they told themselves, anyway. They were both sure they caught the other checking Edward out. Let’s just say that Ed “filled out” his boxer briefs would be the understatement of the week.   
“Well, that wasn’t awkward at all,” Edward said as they finished buttoning and zipping things up without snipping anything sensitive.   
He looked as though he were about to say more when they heard noises coming from then stairs. Grandma Molly came and Scorpius smirked at Albus when Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter came in after her.   
“I’m going to the bathroom!” Edward said.  
“Me too!” Scorpius rushed out of the room after him.   
“Damn Slytherins,” Albus muttered. Dumbledore seemed to be the only one to hear and he gave an amused smile.   
“I think I will follow their example,” the elderly professor said. The other four didn’t notice.  
As his future grandmother encouraged him with a smile, Albus gave a small, lopsided grin to his young parents. 

ZZZ

When Dumbledore left the kitchen, he wasn’t surprised to see Edward and Scorpius right outside. They were leaning up against one of the walls, trying to contain their laughter. The two both quickly tried to calm each other down, and they squeezed past Dumbledore to put their ears up against the kitchen door.  
“You know, there are silencing charms around the kitchen,” Dumbledore informed.   
“Dang it,” Scorpius muttered. “I was hoping to hear something entertaining.”  
“You know what Albus’s parents are like,” Edward said. “If I think about it, I doubt we’d hear anything we don’t already know or we can’t imagine.”  
“Yeah, well, I think I remember Mrs. Potter once saying that the only person that hadn’t changed since Hogwarts was my father,” Scorpius informed.


	10. An Interesting Combination

Scorpius couldn’t really believe how quiet it was, even this early in the morning. He had always expected the headquarters of for the Order of the Phoenix to be loud and all hustle and bustle twenty-four seven. They were fighting an evil Dark Lord, after all, and since the Ministry wasn’t cooperating with the Order, you would think that they would be working extra hard.  
There was suddenly noise above his head, and Scorpius couldn’t help but be brought out of his thoughts. Edward and Dumbledore were talking quietly down the hall, and while both seemed to glance above them, they weren’t brought out of their mysterious conversation. A few moments later, Scorpius saw the tip of a peg leg coming down the stairs, which was quickly followed by the rest of Mad-Eye Moody. For some reason Scorpius started to sweat. 

If Albus thought that meeting a younger version of his grandmother was awkward, meeting his teenage parents was beyond any form of awkwardness he could describe. He was the same age as his mother, and only a year younger than his father, for goodness sake! He was running through different answer to some of the question he thought they must want to ask him, but the only thing he came up with was that he hoped they wouldn’t ask him about girls. He already had that horrible conversation once, and he wasn’t planning on having it again.  
One thing that he did notice was that he was taller than his father. That didn’t seem like much of an accomplishment, since Harry shorter than average at this point in his life, but hey, it’s all about finding the bright-side in everything.   
Of course, Harry and Ginny seemed as though they had even less of an idea of what was going on... which they probably did. Ed probably had the most comprehensive knowledge of time travel of anyone here, but Albus at least knew what had happened.  
Albus looked at his parents and his parents looked at him, and the three of them didn’t say anything for what seemed like an eternity. Luckily, dearest Grandma Molly decided to be the one with the initiative. “So this is Albus.”  
“Um, yeah, I’m Albus. I’m... well, I’m your son. I’m fourteen, and it looks like you’ll be stuck with me for a little while.”  
Albus gave a weak smile while he scratched the back of his head. He didn’t really expect them to do anything. It was obvious that he would do the same thing in their position.   
Harry snorted and went to sit down in one of the kitchen chairs.   
“Don’t give him that look, Harry,” Ginny said. “It’s not his fault.”  
Harry sighed. “I know. It’s just hard to believe.”

Scorpius didn’t know why Mad-Eye Moody scared him so much. The man is a legend, both as a dark wizard catcher and as the leader of the Order of the Phoenix after Dumbledore’s death. Plus, Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater at this point in time. That just makes things even worse for poor old Scorpius.   
For Moody’s part, he just ignored Scorpius and set both his normal and magical eye on Edward.   
Ed shrugged. “It’s more entertaining this way.”  
Moody raised his eyebrow. “If you say so. Now if you don’t mind, Dumbledore, I’m going to be taking our young friend here out for a bit. I suggest not letting the Malfoy there do anything stupid.”  
Dumbledore smiled. “Duly noted.”  
And with that, Scorpius was left alone with the elderly professor.  
“What a fascinating young man,” Dumbledore said.  
“If by fascinating you mean most likely to horribly murder everybody he knows and get away with it, then yup, he’s fascinating,” Scorpius said.   
“It is better that then someone who deceives everybody around them.”  
During their conversation, a grinning Molly came out of the kitchen door.  
“Ah, yes, Molly,” Dumbledore said. “How are they doing in there?”  
Molly’s expression looked like what a “humph” would look like if it were a facial expression. “I swear I brought Ginny up better than to judge someone based solely on their school house. Sorted that out quite quickly, and everything else has been rather staggered since then.”  
The woman looked around the hallway. “Where did Edward go?”  
“Mad-Eye has taken him under his wing, it seems,” Dumbledore said.   
“That seems like an interesting combination,” Molly said. “Now Scorpius, why don’t we find out where you’ll be staying.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, I know, but I'm going to try to motivate myself to write more if this in the upcoming days and weeks!


	11. Lily is Easily Confused

Lily Luna Potter was a very confused twelve-year-old. She had talked to both James and Albus on the train before they got settled for the ride, and they had agreed to have dinner together he day after they got to Hogwarts. She had managed to wrangle James out of his dorm, and the two were on their way to bang on the Slytherin wall when they noticed Albus quickly going in the opposite direction with a large bag in his hand. Deciding that they would be the sneaky ones this time, the brother and sister quietly followed the Slytherin down an abandoned corridor. Albus went into a room about halfway down the hall, so James and Lily pressed their ears against the door. Though it was muffled, they heard Edward start explaining to Al and a third person (who ended up sounding like Scorpius) a complicated set of directions. After a few minutes of listening, Lily got bored, and as she heard James’s stomach growling, she went into action: bursting into the room while dragging James in behind her.

And she was home. Lily didn’t know how or why it happened, but she way in the guest room on the second floor. But the room was empty except for her and James. There were cobwebs in the corner, grime on the windows, and peeling paper on the walls. For his part, James looked just as confused as Lily did.

The two didn’t have much time to put their thoughts together, because as fate would have it, a pile of possessed bedding floated into the room through the door. The bedding seemed to have seen James and Lily, because the bedding was as white as a sheet and dropped to the floor. Only then did Lily realize that the bedding was as magical as she thought: Scorpius’s yell could probably be heard on the moon.

“Oh, Edward’s going to laugh his ass off at this!"

ZZZ

“So, do you have a girlfriend?”

There was the question. Albus still hadn’t decided how he was going to answer this question, and there his mother was, demanding an answer on the spot. Of course, he suddenly realized that the answer was very specific: she didn’t ask if there were any girls he liked, or even if he liked girls at all. Albus in fact did not have a girlfriend, and there was nothing wrong with that. Surely, they would drop the subject if he just answered that he didn’t have a girlfriend.

“As of right now, I’m single,” Albus replied with his fingers crossed behind his back.

“Well, anybody you like?” That came from his father, and right now Albus was staring to loath his father for putting him in this situation. But then Albus realized: unlike the previous question from his mother, this question form his father was sufficiently vague, and so he prepared his answer knowing that there would most likely be a follow-up.

“Yes, I currently like someone, and that person shall stay in my head!” he said forcefully.

“Fine, fine,” Harry said with a smile.

Before anything else could happen, the kitchen door flew open and in came Scorpius, followed by two people who, in this situation, would probably occupy one of Edward’s most fulfilling dreams: James and Lily.

“Ah, shit,” was all Al could say.

ZZZ

Edward’s nose suddenly bled. He glance away form Moody, hoping that the Auror hadn’t seen the blood on his face. The two of them were at the edge of a wooded area just to the north of London, looking out onto a field of stout grass and twisted shrubs. The two trees they were hiding behind were large and old, as were all of those that rose in the wood, and they almost completely blocked out the sun. They were eavesdropping on a group of people about fifty yards into the field. The sun was constantly appearing and disappearing behind quickly moving clouds, and the wind moving those clouds was starting to pick up in the field. Luckily, the wind was blowing towards the woods, making it all the easier to hear what the people were saying.

Unfortunately, Moody seemed to have noticed the blood with his real eye, never taking the magical eye off of the people. After Ed had wiped the blood from his face, he simply nodded, and Moody moved his eye back to the task at hand. It hadn’t been that long since they had left Grimmauld Place, but something seemed to have happened since they had left. The only time Ed’s nose bled was when he was doing something stressful with his Alchemy. He hoped that when he returned that everything was ok.

Ed concentrated on trying to hear what his targets were trying to say. After a time, Ed heard Moody sigh. “It looks like we’re not going to get much today,” he said. “I heard one mention something about a meeting in a few days time. We’ll try again then.”

Ed nodded and the two of them moved deeper into the forest. Once they were far enough in, Ed grabbed onto Moody’s arm, and they Apparated away.


	12. Ogling

Scorpius was right. The moment Ed saw James and Lily he started laughing uncontrollably. For someone whose plans were being completely screwed up, the Alchemist seemed to just be taking everything in stride. The “everything” included being isolated in the room the five time-travelers entered through until Dumbledore and Mrs. Weasley could make sure everybody in the house wouldn’t overreact.   
“To the bedroom,” Edward said happily, pointing out the kitchen door in an over-dramatic fashion.  
During the first few minutes that the small group was in the room, they started organizing the bedding. Lily was ecstatic that she ended up in between the wall and Ed. She knew that James and Albus both were cuddlers and that Scorpius demanded a lot of space. As much time as Scorp spent with Potters, he was still a Malfoy and he liked to have is space.   
Plus, just because she had given up hope for romancing him did mean that Lily couldn’t ogle him. He had bulging muscles in all of the right places, while said muscles weren’t large enough to really turn Lily off, like they were from hard work instead of constantly being at the gym. If Scorpius was built like a Seeker, James and Ed were Chasers: slightly larger than average but not muscle heads. Plus, his muscles weren’t the only thing that was bulging. Lily had it on good authority that he was hung (everybody has a price; a Slytherin’s price is just lower than most people’s).   
It made Lily all tingly inside just thinking about it. The thought of Ed in those tight, form fitting uniforms made Lily want to squeal. Times like these reminded Lily of how much of a fangirl she really was. It also reminded her of how much her brothers had rubbed off on her.   
Speaking of brothers, Lily couldn’t help but notice one tiny thing about James that made her smile on the inside: James seemed particularly fond of staring at Ed’s butt. Well, not only his butt, but just mostly his butt. So James looked at Ed’s but eighty percent of the time. Lily guessed that her brother was an ass kind of guy, and as far as asses go, Ed has a nice one.   
Lily put that mental note in the back of her mind so she could talk about it with James later. Perving over Ed is definitely a hobby they both shared. If there was one thing that Lily didn’t like about her brothers, is that they were more competition in the boy department.   
At least Al was clearly not interested in Ed that way. In fact, Albus was doing the same thing to Scorpius that James was to Ed. Lily had to admit, even though Scorpius wasn’t the type of guy she was into (you know, him being gay and all), she still found him nice to look at.   
Ah, Lily considered herself a lucky girl for the moment. The only thing that could make her better was if she wasn’t stuck twenty plus years in the past. Small details.   
As things settle down, and Lily calmed herself down, she began to wonder exactly why they were all in the past. Well, she knew that everybody but Edward was here on accident, but why was Ed here? She knew the boy was slightly off-hinged, but he seemed to be taking this better than he should. Four people where here that weren’t suppose to be. And for that matter, Ed shouldn’t be there was well. Time wasn’t something that you messed with, no matter how well prepared you were or how important the reason.   
Lily didn’t have time to mull it over, there was a knock on the door. “May I come it?” It was Dumbledore.   
Lily looked around at the four boys with her: all were still fully clothed, thank goodness, and the sexual tension seemed to have been reduced to an acceptable level.   
“Come in,” Lily said after a few moments.  
And so Dumbledore came in, and he was followed by a man who appeared to be of similar age to himself. He was tall, similar in height to Dumbledore, Lily would say, with broad shoulders and body. He was clean shaven, with his graying blond hair back in a ponytail that reached the middle of his back.   
For some reason he looked familiar to Lily, and Ed looked more surprised than Lily ever expected to see him. As expected, Ed almost immediately regained control of himself and went into a deep bow. “Good morning, Grandfather.”


	13. Time Travel, Of Course

            Lily didn’t know what she expected, but she really wanted to hear what Ed and his grandfather talked about. From what James had mentioned, this was the grandfather that hunted dark creatures for a living.

            One thing that surprised Lily was that Dumbledore stayed in the bedroom, closing the door after Edward and his grandfather left. “Forgive me for asking, but would any of you truly know why exactly young Edward would want to come back in time?”

            Albus snorted. “Nope. I’ve stopped trying to comprehend how his mind works.”

            “When I asked him earlier he just said that he did it just to prove that he could,” Scorpius said. “But didn’t he do that when he came back and talked to Moody the first time?”

            Dumbledore stroked his beard. “Well, then let’s hope that Master von Koenig would be willing to share some of what he learns, or that Erwin can get something out of him. Now, what’s important is that we decided what we are going to do with the four of you until October comes around. Now, we can’t exactly have you spending all of your time in this room.”

            “Are you sending us to school?” Lily moaned. “I don’t want extra months of school!”

            Dumbledore grinned.

 

ZZZ

 

            Edward didn’t know Grandfather von Koenig very well, or any of his relatives for that matter. The clan that Ed had been a part of for most of his life kept a policy of isolation. Much of the research that the clan did was not looked upon in a positive way be wizarding society. Creating Homunculi wasn’t necessarily something normal society approved of. The fact that Grandfather Erwin was a professional magical creature hunter that was well known for having a harsh stance against the creation of Homunculi didn’t give Ed a reason to talk to his grandfather very much.

            The man was also intimidating.

            And so, as Erwin von Koenig gazed down at him, Ed felt sweat begin to form on his temples.

 

ZZZ

 

            Erwin looked across the kitchen table at the boy from the future. He had the same build as the boy’s father, one that’s muscular through his work and not going to the gym, and the pale skin, overabundance of freckles, and red hair like the boy’s mother. When the two had first met about ten minutes ago, the boy had seemed calm enough, but the sweat now forming on his temples showed that he wasn’t as calm as he had shown everyone else.

            “There are many questions that I feel need to be answered,” Erwin began, “but first, I must ask: how are the others here?”

            “Time travel, of course!”

            “Of course...” Erwin noted. “These things don’t just accidently happen, though.”

            “That’s a matter for debate at the moment,” Edward stated. The look on the boy’s face made it clear to Erwin that there wasn’t really a debate. If he were a lesser man, Erwin might have been disturbed by the grin.    


	14. Machinations

            “Why do I think that all of this is intentional?” Erwin said.

            Edward let out a short, high pitch laugh, but otherwise didn’t say anything. There was silence between the two for several moments.

            “You know, this is the first time I’ve actually met you?” Edward said. “All I know is that you and my father weren’t on best of terms when I was born, and by the time I was old enough to understand our lack of a relationship, you had died. Do you want to know how you died?”

            The boy wasn’t nervous anymore, and Erwin noticed that his eyes, vibrant green only a few moments before, had started to dull and darken. There had been no emotion in what he had last said. His face was utterly blank, his body still. Everything unnecessary had started to slip away from him.

            “I believe that my own death will be best faced in the moment,” Erwin said. “So you can keep your knowledge of my death to yourself.”

            There was a pause.

            “You committed suicide.”

            Suddenly, feelings came back to Edwards face, and through the shock of what he had just been told, Erwin was able to notice the emotionless green eyes though the boy’s fronted emotions.

            “Excuse me, I believe that I have work to do,” the boy said as he rose from his seat and walked out of the kitchen door.

 

ZZZ

 

            Dumbledore watched as Edward got up from his seat and went pass him to leave the kitchen. Erwin was still looking at where the boy had been sitting.

            “Did you learn anything,” Dumbledore asked.

            “He brought the other kids here intentionally...” Erwin said, and suddenly the man looked shocked. “Quick! Get a hold of him!”

            The two quickly ran out of the kitchen. By the time they were up to the second floor, there was loud commotion coming from the bedroom with the future kids were kept. Dumbledore and Erwin rushed through the already open door to see James, Albus, Scorpius, and Lily getting up from the floor. A white orb, similar to the one that had appeared the group had first arrived was holding steady in the center of the room.

            Edward was gone.

            James, surprisingly, was the first to recover, rushing over and poking Erwin in the chest.

            “What did you say to him? Why would he leave us here?” James said. The boy was almost hysterical. Tears started to flow from his eyes. This was the first time Dumbledore had seen how scared they must have been.

            “I’m sorry,” Erwin said. “I believe that Edward brought the four of you here intentionally. He probably planned on abandoning you here as well.”

            James snorted. “I don’t believe you.” He made as if to leave the room, but when he reached the door, the orb flashed, pulling James away from the exit.

            That set a panic in the other three, who quickly tried to leave the same way, with the same effect.

            “We’re trapped,” Albus said.

 

ZZZ

 

            The first thing Edward did after the time jump was to check his nose for bleeding. There wasn’t any. He then looked for a mirror. There was a full length one in the corner. Looking at it, everything seemed to have gone to plan. He was, for all intents and purposes, now seventeen years old. He was probably two or so inches taller than average, and still with the same body type as before the jump, only proportionate to his height.

            Ed looked around the room to see that it was in order. It was the same room that he had been in in the nineties, but this room was most definitely his. There was actually furniture in the room now, and an open trunk at the end of the bed. Edward noticed Slytherin robes on the top. Around the room there were various books and ingredients waiting to be packed. He had recently gone to Diagon Alley for school supplies, then. The school year was about to begin.

            This all looked right to Edward. He was a home in 12 Grimmauld Place. There was a picture on the bed with other miscellaneous items that needed to be packed. It was of him when he was a kid, shortly after his parents had adopted him. Dad had the unruly black hair that he always sported, and his mum’s red hair was several shades darker than his own. Mr. and Mrs. Potter looked so happy to finally have a kid, even if they had to skip the toddler phase of his life.

            “Edward!” Ginny Potter called from downstairs. “Conall’s here.”

            “Coming!” Edward said. His voice was still the same, if a slightly deeper baritone than before. He adjusted his clothes and looked in the mirror to make sure he could still do a convincing smile. This was the moment. He left the room with confident strides, and quickly made his way downstairs to the sitting room. Before he walked in he heard his mother say she was going to get some food for them real quick. Edward walked in to see Conall turning to meet him. Conall had gone through the same changes Ed had, the two being almost the same height and weight.

            Conall smiled when he saw Edward. “There’s my favorite Slytherin.” The young man came up Edward and gave him a quick kiss. Ed smiled and kissed him back.

            This was his reality now. Just as planned.


	15. New Life

            Now and then, Ginny really started to worry about Edward. She loved the boy as only a mother could, but she knew that her son wasn’t the most normal of people. He had an intelligence that reminded Ginny of Hermione, and had a certain... offbeat charm that, if people didn’t really want to like him, they certainly wouldn’t hate him. But, the boy was strange. He was prone to spacing out often for minutes at a time, only to be seemingly jerked back into the present and seemingly struggle to know where he was. Then he would sometimes talk to you as though you were a completely different person. He had once asked Teddy how his _boyfriend_ was doing. When he was reminded that Teddy was happily married to Victoire, he seemed to have frozen in time for a few moments before remembering that he had in fact been Victoire’s maid-of-honor. Edward had always seemed like he was living in a separate reality from the rest of the family.

            When it seemed like the only people who would accept Ed was his family, along came Conall. They had met when they were both fourth years, and Conall quickly became Edward’s anchor to reality in a way that the family couldn’t be. While Ginny knew that her family loved Edward, they still didn’t really know what to do with him. They viewed life normally, and it didn’t really seem they could connect with Ed when he went right and _normal_ people went left. But Conall didn’t care about Edward’s eccentricities. He had once told Ginny that those weird things about her son were part of the reason why he was attracted to him.

            From the way Ginny understood it, Conall finally found someone who could rely on him. Growing up, Conall had been the throwaway kid of his family. Almost twenty years younger than the next closest of his siblings, he was always pushed aside when it came to family matters. But Edward came to rely on the boy’s strength, and while Conall had finally found someone who needed him, Ed found someone who was willing to be his friend, not because they were related, but for those very eccentricities that pushed so many people away.

            She was proud of the two of them, really. They forged their was through life together. They both tried their hardest to get though their own troubles because they had someone who they wanted to improve themselves for.

            Ginny walked back into the sitting room with two large platters of sandwiches, knowing that both boys individually ate enough to feed an entire family. Said boys were snuggled together in their favorite loveseat. It was much tamer than she had expected. The two were notorious for finding new ways to shag each other, and the fact that almost everyone in the family had walked in on them doing something sexual didn’t make matter any better.

            Their eyes lit up when they saw the food, as Ginny expected. The two of them started to eat quietly while giving each other glances. Ginny knew that they had been talking about something before she came back in, and they obviously didn’t want her to know.

            “Well,” Ginny started, “I know when I’m intruding on something. I’ll leave you two be. Remember, we’re leaving for the Burrow in an hour.”

            The two nodded. Ginny rose from the couch and started to make her way out of the room when someone knocked on the front door. She looked at Ed and Conall. When they shrugged, Ginny went to answer the door.

            “Ah! Professor Dumbledore, what a pleasure!” Ginny heard an uncharacteristically loud chocking sound from Edward in the sitting room.

            “Good afternoon, Mrs. Potter,” Dumbledore said. “Was that Edward I heard?”

            “Yes, Professor. He and Conall are in the sitting room. Why don’t you come in?”

            Dumbledore smiled and followed Ginny into the sitting room. Ginny was glad that the boys had un-attached themselves from each other.

            “If you wouldn’t mind,” Dumbledore said, “I would like to speak to young Edward in private.”

            “Of course, of course,” Ginny said. Conall nodded, and after giving Edward a quick kiss on the cheek and grabbing another half of a sandwich, followed Ginny out into the hall.

 

ZZZ

 

            Dumbledore looked at the Alchemist. “I am constantly amazed at the adaptability of the young.”

            Edward raised an eyebrow and gave a polite smile. Dumbledore noted that Ed didn’t comment on the professor’s musing. The boy was still feeling out his situation, then. Dumbledore knew he had to be careful here. This kid was dangerous, not only because of the ruthlessness of how he went about accomplishing his goals, but in the way that he could convince everybody that, while strange, he was still sane.

            “What,” Dumbledore said, “are you going to do now that you’ve integrated yourself into the Potter family, Edward von Koenig?”

            The smile didn’t leave Edward’s face, but the life in his eyes seemed to dim. “I am going to complete my mission, of course.”


	16. The Multiverse Theory in Practice

            It was nearing the end of November, 2017, and Albus and Scorpius we sitting in their corner of the library, studying to make sure the end of their first semester at Hogwarts went well. Most people had learned to let the two of them keep to themselves. They were both reserved, and though not unkind, tended to push people away, especially when they couldn’t see anything they could gain from someone’s friendship.

            Albus did make sure to spend time with his family, and was happy that Scorpius decided to tolerate them. The two had also made friends with Ernie Dursley, the son of Albus’ father’s cousin.

            “Hey Scorp,” Albus said in his usual quiet voice.

            “Yes, Al?” Scorpius replied without looking up from his Charms essay.

            “Do you wanna come to my place over the holidays?”

            Scorpius’s silver eyes snapped into Albus’s emerald green ones, and he looked slightly terrified.

            “Oh, come on,” Albus complained. “My family isn’t _that_ bad.”

            “I can barely stand the Weasleys here at Hogwarts,” Scorpius complained. “How do you expect me to get along with everyone in your family?”

            “Come on!” Albus said. “They’re only loud and somewhat obnoxious. I’m sure they’ll warm up to you once they get to know you.”

            “I highly doubt that.”

            Albus gave his friend an intense stare. “You do realize that I am the first person on either side of my family to not be in Gryffindor. That is because I can barely stand my family, and now that I’m a Slytherin, I don’t think I’ll be able to survive their ridicule and joking alone.”     

            Scorpius matched his friend’s stare. “And why would I want to put myself up to be terrified?”

            “Because I won’t help you with your Herbology essay if you don’t come.”

            They both continued to stare at each other seriously for a few seconds before a grin appeared on each of their faces. It was impossible for them to stay too serious with each other for very long.

            “Fine,” Scorpius let in. He was barely making an “Acceptable” in Herbology, so he definitely needed the help.

            Albus grinned. “Well, there’s no point in starting now, so I have an idea.”

            Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

            Albus continued: “You know that abandoned classroom on the third floor? The one Professor Dumbledore told us to stay away from?”

            The Malfoy nodded.

            “You wanna go check it out?”

 

ZZZ

 

            “And what exactly is this mission you have to complete, Mr. von Koenig?” Dumbledore asked.

            Edward gave a large grin. “What do you know of a ring once owned by Marvolo Gaunt?”

            “It was a Horcrux, created by Lord Voldemort. Luna Lovegood destroyed it shortly before the Battle of Hogwarts.”

            Edward’s grin faded and he face turned thoughtful. “And so, here you are today, alive and well. Tell me, Professor Dumbledore, have you ever wanted to meet Homunculi?”

            “Not particularly, why do you ask,” Dumbledore asked.

            “There’s one at Hogwarts,” Edward said. His voice was becoming unhinged. “Right this very moment, and right in your very past.”

 

ZZZ

 

            If Albus were one to be surprised easily, then he would have been surprised that his older brother had not only let he and Scorpius use the invisibility cloak, but wanted to come along as well. Thankfully, the three of them had yet to have their first real growth spurt, so fitting underneath the cloak was not much of a problem.

            What was a problem was that the abandoned classroom that the three of them were trying to get to was on the other side of the castle from where they started. Albus had considered doing this at night, when there were no people wondering the halls, but Scorpius had only agreed to come along if they went now. He was always impatient about Herbology assignments, and wanted to get this out of the way. Impressing Professor Longbottom was high on his list of things to do, from what Albus had been able to gather. As for James, well, James was always up for an adventure.

            After close to half an hour weaving their way through the halls and people of Hogwarts, the three finally made it to the forbidden classroom. The hallway was abandoned, as usual. It was surprisingly easy to keep kid away when one of the older students started a rumor about the entire hallway being haunted. From what other students had said, the door was always locked, and alohomora didn’t work on it. Both Dumbledore and Professor Moody had apparently made sure that students never went in.

            Of course, being that there were two children of Harry Potter under the cloak, things were not as normal. The supposedly always-locked door was wide open. Sitting up against the wall next to the door was a young man with long scarlet hair. His Slytherin robes were bloody, and hand was occasionally coughing up blood. After a moment, the young man’s unblinking eyes landed on James, Albus, and Scorpius. They were completely black.

“How are you kids again?” he said, before he finally fell unconscious.


	17. Small Spark of Humanity

            This was the human Edward von Koenig. It was his comment to James, Albus, and Scorpius that had convinced Dumbledore that this one was human and the one who played as the Potter’s child in the other timeline was the Homunculus. It was a theory, but Dumbledore didn’t think that the homunculus knew what James, Albus, and Scorpius looked like as preteens. From what he had been able to gather, homunculi didn’t have a concept of people growing and changing, as the creatures stayed the same their entire existence. Dumbledore wondered when the homunculus had taken this one over, and how the two had separated into different universes. Dumbledore suspected that Edward himself had some of the answers.

            The Professor rose from his chair and looked out the window on the opposite side of the room from the bed. The real question was, what to do about the rumors that were bound to start. While Dumbledore was sure that the boys who had found Edward would keep their mouths shut, other students had seen Edward on a stretcher being brought to the Hospital Wing. The fact that Edward was wearing Hogwarts robes, yet he wasn’t a student in this timeline.

            When Dumbledore turned back around, he was greeted by Edward’s pale green eyes gazing at him. Dumbledore was glad to see that those eyes still had their humanity left in them, so matter how calculating they were.

            After the two of them looked at each other in silence for several moments, Edward decided to speak: “I need some chalk that’s at least twenty-five centimeters in length, a knife, three and a half kilograms of finely crushed human bone, a pig’s heart, with the pig preferably having been killed within the last twenty-four hours, a liter of Thestral blood, one and a half kilograms of baking powder, five liters of ethanol, and a cauldron that’s at least fifty percent silver.”

            Edward grinned. “After all of that is collected, Professor Dumbledore, we’re going to trap my pet homunculus.”

 

            James Sirius Potter didn’t know what to expect when he was summoned to the forbidden classroom where he had found the bloody Slytherin, but the young man he had found sitting in a wheelchair in the middle of the room was pretty far down the list of theories. Professor Dumbledore was sitting on a small stool in the corner watching the both of them, while the only other thing in the room was a cauldron brewing something behind the wheelchair.

            The young man smiled. “I’m glad you came, James Sirius Potter.”

            “Do we know each other?”

            The smile faltered a bit. “I suppose we don’t. My name is Edward. I know this may sound weird, but can I touch you?”

            “What?” James didn’t often find himself relating to his brother Albus, but now he understood what it must sometimes feel like to think something is ridiculous.

            Edward seemed to laugh at himself. “I could have said that better. It’s fine. Just seeing you thinking I’m strange is fine. I’m sure in some time and place, you probably despise me at the moment.”

            He moved the wheelchair around so that the cauldron was between himself and James. “I’m about to tell you something, James Sirius. I don’t expect you to believe me, but I’ll at least have it off my chest.

            “Humans are weak creatures, James Sirius, when we feel like we’re alone. I... For a long while, I felt like I was becoming more and more isolated from the people I knew. I grew up in a clan of Alchemist, and while I knew my parents, my clan was more of a family than anybody else. My clan, though, wasn’t known for its quiet musings and philosophical studies. We were there for war, and war isn’t the best way to be raised. Because of this, or maybe in spite of this, I searched for a way to escape. I wanted a good night sleep on a soft bed, for goodness sake!

            “I made a Homunculus to take my place. Being kind and caring wasn’t exactly something I was known for, so I figured the thing could replace me. It was an idea that, in hindsight, was terrible, but I just wanted to get away.”

            He stopped speaking after a glance down at the cauldron. He looked back at James. “I’m sorry, we’re going to have to cut the conversation short. It’s time for me to go and face the music.”

            There was a bright flash, and then all that remained was the wheelchair.    


	18. Edward Can Steal A Wheelchair Without The Use Of His Legs.  Obviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for that terrible chapter title. It was either that or "Edward is a Troll". I think I chose the worse of the two.

            James didn’t say anything. The cauldron was now as empty as the wheelchair.

            Dumbledore sighed. “One day, Mister Potter, I believe you will understand what he was trying to say. While we were making this potion here, he started to open up about what was going through his head. He’s a boy who has been expected to have the answers for everything, and has been constantly praised for everything he does. Failure isn’t something he’s accustomed to, so when he did finally fail in something, escaping from he clan and trying to have a normal life, it started to eat him up on the inside. Everybody he knew saw his mistake and thought about how great an alchemist or wizard he could have been. And so, he began to manifest that failure and pushed people away. It became second nature for him to make in uncomfortable for people to touch him, and he silently bared the burden of fixing his mistakes and putting his life back together alone, in a time of his life when the people he looked up to and respected helping him could have made all of the difference.

            “And then he met you. You were a few years older than you are now, but it was still you. And when you first shook hands, he had his natural barrier up, but it didn’t seem to have any impact on you like it did with every other person he had met. The both of you were just starting to come into your own as young men, and I believe that he finally saw someone who could accept him for who he was mistakes and all. It helped that he was attracted to you in the primal sense as well, as fifteen-year-olds tend to be like.”

            Dumbledore gave James and encouraging smile. “You yourself don’t have to worry about a thing, but just know that no matter what you do in your life, there’s most likely going to be someone who accepts you for who you are. Now if I’m not mistaken, I believe that dinner is about to start. Shall we go?”

 

            “What do you think Dumbledore wanted to talk to Ed about?” Conall said. He and Ginny were sitting at the kitchen table. The young man had had dug around the kitchen and found more food.

            “The two of you didn’t scare some kids at Hogwarts with your shagging, did you?” Ginny replied.

            Conall laughed. “Not that I know of. Not very many people are allowed in the prefect’s bathroom, so that’s the best place to do it. Plus, something about bathwater that smells like lilac seems to really turn us both on.”

            Ginny laughed. This was a situation that, before she and Harry had adopted Ed, she couldn’t imagine herself in. Here she was, talking to her son’s boyfriend about their sex life. But her son was a man now, and the boy who she had started to think of as a second son was also a man.

            “By the way,” Conall said, “I think Ed’s in another one of his states again. He’s more physical when he’s out of it. It was strange: up until he heard Dumbledore, he was all over me...”

 

            Dumbledore listened to Ginny and Conall talk from the other side of the kitchen door. The homunculus Ed had disappeared at the same moment he had felt the human Ed disappear from the other timeline. Where they would show up, he couldn’t answer yet. Now, though, Dumbledore had to explain to Ginny and Conall that the man they both cared for wasn’t even human.

 

            Professor Dumbledore watched in amusement at what was possibly one of the most intense staring matched in history. Erwin and Edward von Koenig were trying to bore a hole through each other from their seats (well, Ed was in a wheelchair) at either end of the kitchen table.

            “I apologize that my sociopathic death spawn told you how you died,” Edward said in an intense monotone, as if any inflection would cause him to concede the staring contest. “If it makes you feel any better, now that I’ve separated the damn thing from me, you can murder it without feeling guilty about hurting your grandson. If you really wanted to murder us simultaneously, I apologize for the inconvenience.”

            Erwin, in a very similar monotone, replied: “Blowing what little brains your sociopathic death spawn has is, at the moment, a lesser fantasy of mine. What of your companions upstairs?”

            “They get to leave when Albus and Scorpius resolve their sexual tension. James is their referee and Lily their cheerleader. Obviously.”

            “Obviously.” The sarcasm was palpable.

            Edward broke the staring contest with a laugh. “I’m being serious. The homunculus is an even more screwed up version of me, so it has my horrible sense of humor, only more deranged! I can’t break the trap, but Albus and Scorpius kissing will!”

            “You find _that_ funny?”

            “If it wasn’t my fault they are in this situation in the first place, I would find it hilarious. The homunculus version of me finds it hilarious even when he’s the cause.

“Though, there is one snag in this entire thing. When I originally brought us back in time, I set it up so we would automatically go back to our time in October. I don’t have enough energy at the moment to send us back to our time. So if Scorp and Al break the spell, all four of them will have a month and half to exact their revenge on me. As you may or may not know, it’s hard to run away when you’re confined to my stolen wheelchair.”

            Erwin and Dumbledore looked at each other. “I’ll go give them the good news,” Dumbledore said with a smile.

            “Fine!” Edward called to Dumbledore’s back. Erwin noticed that the boy didn’t seem mad at Dumbledore. “I’ll just wait here for my inevitable demise from the wrath of those I love and betrayed.”

            Definitely amused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of the two main pairings in this fic, Al and Scorp have it easy. James, however, gets the full wrath of Edward's "I love you so I must lock you away from everyone in a time where you haven't been born yet" kind of love. So fun.


	19. People Have Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry that this chapter is short and has taken so long. I will hopefully be updating again soon.

            Molly Weasley couldn’t help but stare at Edward. He seemed to be doing his best to put on a happy face as he waited for things to be resolved upstairs, but the boy looked as though he was being absorbed into his wheelchair from exhaustion.

            She couldn’t help it anymore. “Are you alright dear?”

            “What?”

            That wasn’t the answer Molly expected. “Are you feeling okay? You’ve been put in a bad situation from what I’ve heard. Do you need to talk about it before everyone else comes down?”

            Edward stared at her with an exhausted expression. “Why do you care?” His expression never changed from an exhausted gaze, but he didn’t try to hide the poison that was in his voice.

            She was committed. Someone had to start caring for this child before he started to self-destruct and make things worse for himself. She moved her chair so that she was sitting next to Ed. “I care because you need someone to care for you. You’ve going through a lot, and I think you need someone to talk to. You’re human, after all.”

            The entire air around Edward changed then: he finally relaxed and let himself go. He leaned into Molly and started to bawl. All she did was start to pat the back of his head, but for now that seemed enough.

 

            There were times when Conall wished he wasn’t such a Gryffindor. Sure, he liked being a Gryffindor, but there were times when his courage backfired.

How did it backfire?

            Well, he had finally decided pluck up the courage to tell Edward that he wanted the two of them to fuck each other senseless. There was the possibility that he wanted to do the same thing with James. And with both of them at the same time. He didn’t think he loved either one of them, but he was definitely physically attracted to them. Hopefully at least one of them would respond positively. He knew James wouldn’t care about him being bisexual, but going from realizes that they were both attracted to men to shagging each other seemed difficult. And Conall never really knew what Ed thought.

            And so, during the evening feast on the Saturday after the start of term, he had decided find Edward and James. He overheard a third year Gryffindor who had come to the feast late say that he saw Edward, James, Albus, Lily, and Scorpius go into an unused third floor classroom. Conall didn’t question why the third year had been way over in that part of the castle when there was food to be had, but he thought it made his life a whole lot easier.

            Who, or what, he found in the classroom definitely wasn’t Edward. Where Ed had been pale with freckles, this thing was as white as a sheet of paper. Where Ed’s eyes were a green as beautiful emerald, blackness consumed those eyes. Where Ed’s hair fell in curls like fire to his shoulders, translucent wisps of magic floated in all directions.

            Conall didn’t think he had ever stopped being horny so quickly, but the raw fear that froze his body didn’t feel nearly as pleasing.


End file.
